Original ‘Fast and Furious’ Director Rob Cohen Wants to Helm Last Film in the Series

Rob Cohen, the filmmaker who launched the Fast and Furious franchise with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, hasn’t returned to the series since. But the filmmaker isn’t entirely against the idea of coming back again. In a new interview, Cohen claims that when the day comes for a final Fast and Furious film, he’d like to be the one to direct it.

Filmmaker Rob Cohen is out on the interview circuit promoting his upcoming disaster epic Hurricane Heist. Cohen has had quite the varied career, helming films like the Sylvester Stallone trapped-in-a-tunnel flick Daylight, the Sean Connery dragon movie Dragonheart, and goofy Jennifer Lopez thriller The Boy Next Door. One of Cohen’s most successful films, however, is the original The Fast and the Furious, which launched an entire franchise. Cohen only helmed the first entry in the series and hasn’t returned, but that doesn’t mean he’s not open to one last ride.

In a new interview with ScreenCrush, Cohen revealed that when and if a final film in the Furious franchise arrives, he’d love to direct it. “I always wished Universal would come back to me to direct the last one,” he said. Obviously this is mostly wishful thinking on Cohen’s part. For one thing, Universal probably has no plans to make a “final” Fast and Furious film when they can continue to churn out successful sequels. Even if the current Furious cast wants to retire, Universal can always crank out new films with a whole new cast. On top of that, there’s an upcoming Fast and Furious spin-off in the works starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. In other words, don’t expect an end to this series any time soon.

The filmmaker also had some thoughts on the series in general, saying:

“The franchise went from a Los Angeles story built around a family of multicultural brothers and sisters to what I’ll call “pure spectacle.” The beauty is that the audience has ridden along with it for these 18 years. I’m very proud that the characters I created in 2001 are still in the lexicon. There‘s still a Dominic Toretto appearing every two years, or a Mia Toretto, or a Letty. It had to evolve, and it evolved in a way that was ultra-worldwide commercial. And the heartbeat of it is: We live in a world with no gravity, cars can do anything. They can burst out of the nose of airplanes. People can jump across freeways. They can take down helicopters. It’s like, “Okay, anything for the spectacle.”

Cohen also added, “I started out to do a different thing, but the thing that I did implanted this world and these characters deeply in that audience,” before patting himself on the back, saying, “[M]ost of the time when you go on the internet and [read] ‘Which was the best Fast & Furious?’ It’s almost always mine.” Whatever you say, Rob Cohen!

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