While we recently heard that Kurt Russell was potentially joining FAST AND FURIOUS 7, it now turns out that it was not meant to be. Russell will no longer be involved with the sequel, but we now have some information on what his role was going to be.
A new Twitter account called FF7Movie has been tweeting set photos and other tidbits about the production of FAST AND FURIOUS 7 and shared some background on who Russell was going to play in the movie:
Kurt Russel was almost about to join #Fast7. He would play the father of Jesse, and he would be Toretto's villain.
— #Fast7 (@FF7Movie) September 11, 2013
He would work together with @realjstatham in the film, as Ian Shaw in #Fast7, to take revenge on Toretto and his family.
— #Fast7 (@FF7Movie) September 11, 2013
The character of Jesse appeared in the original THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS as Vin Diesel‘s geeky ADHD tech guy who helped pimp out the computer systems in the cars. He was killed in a drive-by that set up the final act of that movie. The ending of FAST AND FURIOUS 6 referenced back to the third film, TOKYO DRIFT, so a return to the first movie would not be out of the realm of possibility. But, would the father of a low level criminal like Jesse get mixed up with a big time bad guy like Jason Statham‘s Ian Shaw?
Jason Statham‘s cameo at the end of the sixth film setup the events of the upcoming seventh, so this next tweet definitely sounds possible:
@UniversalPics was searching for a bad guy for #Fast7, but he would be even more bad in #Fast8.
— #Fast7 (@FF7Movie) September 11, 2013
@UniversalPics was searching for a bad guy for #Fast7, but he would be even more bad in #Fast8.
— #Fast7 (@FF7Movie) September 11, 2013
FAST AND FURIOUS 8 seems likely if the seventh opens as huge as FAST AND FURIOUS 6, but I think Universal would be smart to hold off so they don’t saturate the fanbase. The SAW films eventually saw diminishing returns after so many annual chapters and those movies cost a hell of a lot less than these movies do.
Whether number eight gets made or not, FAST AND FURIOUS 7 as directed by James Wan (hey, a SAW guy!) starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Ronda Rousey, Tony Jaa, and Jason Statham on July 11, 2014.