Fast X Cast Praises Last-Minute Director Louis Leterrier, “He Saved Us”

The cast of Fast X is raining praise upon Louis Leterrier, who stepped up to direct the 10th Fast & Furious movie after the previous director stepped down. The entire Fast X cast and crew were on-hand in Rome for the global red carpet event, which was also streamed on social media. If you’re spoiler-averse, you’ll want to stay away from the first reactions to spill out of the Fast X red carpet. However, if you’re interested in learning how the cast felt about Louis Leterrier replacing Justin Lin as director of the film, the cast revealed how Leterrier saved them and the movie.

“You’re ready to shoot the thing, you don’t have a finished third act and your director just quit. Welcome to the heartache,” Michelle Rodriguez told the LA Times during a feature for Fast X. She was recalling how Fast X had to pivot when switching directors. “There’s tears, because you don’t want things to end up wack because people are rushing things or they’re worried about money so they forget the integrity of the thing. You wonder, ‘Will they find someone who’s passionate enough to take this on and care enough?’”

She added how Leterrier “opened the doors of creativity.” “He saved us,” Rodriguez said. “He saved our ass.“

Fast X Cast Heaps Praise on Director Louis Leterrier

“I think everyone was looking at us going, ‘Wow, the wheels are coming off’ — no pun intended — and Louis got us back on track,” said Brewster. “I assumed that someone who just took on this job would want to go under a rock, hide and prepare and not be bombarded by everyone’s suggestions. But he spoke to every single one of us and was like, ‘Tell me your ideas. Tell me what you don’t like about the script.’ He was so generous, and that set the tone. And I think that’s very rare for a director, to be that open and not to be precious.”

Sung Kang, who plays Han in the Fast & Furious franchise, is directing the upcoming Shaky Shivers, which he helmed between F9 and Fast X. He added his own insight into how directing Shaky Shivers factored into his relationship with Louis Leterrier.

“I learned that once people felt like I trusted them and valued their creative input and appreciated their presence on set, then they were going to give me the best version of themselves,” Kang said. “I just made an effort to go, ‘Louis, you’re the coach. There’s some drama that’s happened, but that has nothing to do with you and I, and I trust you as our new leader.’”

Fast X opens in theaters on May 19th.