Actor and producer says both films are being written back to back

Dec 21, 2011 12:40 GMT  ·  By
Vin Diesel says scripts for “The Fast and the Furious” 6 and 7 are being written simultaneously
   Vin Diesel says scripts for “The Fast and the Furious” 6 and 7 are being written simultaneously

Not that this comes as too much of a surprise, but there are (at least) two more installments in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise in the works. Confirmation comes from Vin Diesel, star and producer of the series: a screenwriter is currently working on them.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor says that, while discussing ideas for the upcoming installment, the sixth, which had been confirmed since the fifth was still playing in theaters, they realized they needed a seventh one as well.

In other words, the next two “Fast and Furious” films will tell one story cut in two.

“With the success of this last one, and the inclusion of so many characters, and the broadening of scope, when we were sitting down to figure out what would fit into the real estate of number six, we didn’t have enough space,” Diesel says.

He explains that this came to be because “Fast Five” moved from being just a movie about cars to being a solid action flick, which boasted a very impressive cast.

“We have to pay off this story, we have to service all of these character relationships, and when we started mapping all that out it just went beyond 110 pages,” he notes.

Eventually, the decision to stretch the story to cover 2 films came from the studio. “The studio said, 'You can’t fit all that story in one damn movie!',” Vin adds.

He doesn't say whether both films will also shoot at the same time but, given the large cast, with each star with his or her own schedule to stick to, it wouldn't be quite a stretch to assume that they will.

If the next two films perform at least half as good at the box office as “Fast Five” did, then fans can certainly expect the franchise to live for many years to come.