Over the past 25 years, Jordana Brewster’s Fast and Furious movies have taken her all over the world, from the franchise’s home base of Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro and San Juan to London and Rome. But Cannes was not on the roadmap until now.
Brewster says it’s “very validating and a little bittersweet” that the series, which has grossed $7 billion, received accolades from an “iconic” film festival.
It’s Wednesday, and Brewster is sipping coffee on the patio of one of the Croisette’s luxury hotels as he prepares for a marathon day that will culminate with a midnight screening of 2001’s “Fast and Furious.” Currently, she looks effortlessly chic in a pink cropped button-down and jeans. But after about 14 hours, Brewster is completely charmed and will be walking up the famous red staircase at the Grand Lumiere Theater with his “Fast” family, co-stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, producer Neal H. Moritz and Meadow Walker, daughter of the late Paul Walker, who died in 2013.
“I was reading the itinerary and noticed that Meadow was there instead of Paul,” Brewster says, her throat tight and her eyes a little misty. “It must be beautiful.”
The Cannes screening was Diesel’s brainchild. Starr, who also produces the film, came up with the idea to bring the series to the French Riviera a few years ago and finally made it happen ahead of the film’s 25th anniversary in June.
It’s been several years since Brewster last saw the movie. The film established the legend of the Toretto family, a crew of gearheads and street racers led by Diesel Dominic. Brewster plays the younger sister Mia, and the story centers on her love story with rogue police officer Brian O’Connor, played by Paul Walker. Watching it again made me feel nostalgic, and I was impressed by how well the story was put together.
When the server arrived with an egg white omelet, Brewster said, “Carjacking a truck for a TV-DVD player is an exception.” “It’s the only old one.”
Jordana Brewster (third from right) and the cast of 2001’s “Fast and Furious.”
universal pictures
“What was so beautiful about the first film was that all the characters were fleshed out,” she says. “It’s really hard to do that in an ensemble piece, but I think that’s what gives it such longevity. Everyone relates to different characters.”
For example, Mia is the moral compass of the series. “She’s grounded, which is a really important element in the series, because things can go in any direction.” (And remember, they featured a Pontiac Fiero rocketing into space in “F9.”) The rewatch also reminded Brewster of the character’s grit. “I miss that,” she says. “Hopefully it comes back in the final game.”
Speaking of spinoffs, Diesel revealed on Monday that his 11th and final film, Fast Forever, will be released in theaters in March 2028, while the series will continue with a new TV show on Peacock.
“Over the last 10 years, we’ve realized that fans want more,” Diesel said at NBCUniversal’s Upfront presentation in New York. “They wanted us to expand on the traditional characters and their stories…and I had to wait until it felt right.”
The revelation was breaking news for Brewster, but she says she relishes the opportunity to expand on Mia’s story.
“It would be fun to have me and my two kids, but they get into all sorts of trouble. It’s almost like karma,” she says with a laugh. “It would also be a good way to perpetuate the legacy of Brian’s character and his family, but we’ll see.”
Jordana Brewster attended the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
michael buckner
It doesn’t take much prompting to conjure up memories from the 25 years since the making of these films. Brewster quickly recalled how intimidated she was during her first table read with Diesel, Walker, and Rodriguez, who plays Dominick’s girlfriend Letty. She was still a student at Yale University, and Fast and Furious was only her third movie.
“The one that impressed me the most was Michelle, because if she didn’t like something about the character, she wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion,” Brewster says. “It was so foreign to me, but I also wished I had a little bit of that. I’ve had that with age, but that’s what I remember from the early days. And I had no idea how special what we were doing was.”
Developing “Fast Forever” was a long process, and there were some failures along the way. Meanwhile, Brewster is preparing to play a detective in the upcoming Prime Video series “Bishop,” and has also completed his first feature-length screenplay. This is an exciting new creative outlet as the actresses continue to evolve with the characters they play.
As the “Fast” family races their final 400 miles, Brewster reflects on how rare this experience is. “It’s like the mafia,” she says of her castmates. “We all support each other no matter what. I ride or die.”
Case in point: when Mia didn’t appear in an early draft of the script for 2023’s Fast X, Diesel requested a rewrite of the plot line.
“Vin is really my brother,” she says of Diesel’s efforts to involve her. “He was extremely loyal to the series as a whole. If he hadn’t been such a fearless champion of the series, the series might have died out a long time ago.”
In the end, Brewster only shot a few scenes for the film, but they were memorable. A major action scene with John Cena and a family dinner with the Toretto family’s Abuelita, played by EGOT-winning icon Rita Moreno. “It was a pinch moment,” she says of Moreno. “We’ve attracted so many iconic people, which further proves how special this franchise is.”
In fact, the character has been in and out of action over the years, in part due to conflicts with filming schedules for other projects, including starring in the TNT series “Dallas.” And after Walker died at the end of Fast & Furious 7 and the characters “retired” to quiet lives, weaving Mia into the storyline became even more complicated. “It’s really hard to thread the needle,” Brewster admits. “I connect with Dom too. That’s not something to ignore. And I love it when Letty and Mia are together.”
That said, honoring Walker in the finale film is a top priority. The script for Fast Forever is still being finalized, but Brewster has high hopes for the film, saying, “Even if Brian is in the movie, or even if he’s just part of the reason for the wins and successes, I want to see him be the overall champion.”
