Rob Cohen has directed a lot of junk over the course of his career, mostly action-packed clunkers and wannabe blockbusters like Stealth, Alex Cross, and the kung-fu laden The Mummy: The Curse of the Dragon Emperor. But he’s also stumbled across the occasional hit, and 2001’s The Fast and the Furious was an unexpected highlight. The film sprang from nowhere to launch one of the most enduring franchises in history, but Cohen hasn’t been a part of it since.
As the Fast & Furious series seems to be winding down, Cohen says he’d like to return to the house he helped build. He tells Screen Crush…
“I always wished Universal would come back to me to direct the last one. If they ever make a last one. If Comcast’s Board of Directors ever allows them to end the goose that laid the golden egg.”
He continues…
“The franchise went from a Los Angeles story built around a family of multicultural brothers and sisters to what I’ll call ‘pure spectacle’…I’m very proud that the characters I created in 2001 are still in the lexicon…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.”
I think it would be a nice gesture from Universal to bring Cohen back to wrap things up, assuming they ever get to that point. Cohen is more than capable, and it’s not like these movies require a lot of subtlety or anything. For what it’s worth, Cohen is perfectly happy if things continue on because it’s good for his bank account…
“They spend $350 million on these movies, so they’ve got the money to pull this stuff off. And the audience is eating it up. The last one still did $1.25 billion. For my kids’ college fund, I’m very happy that it’s had this longevity.”
This could very well happen. Cohen went on to direct Vin Diesel in XXX, and we know the actor is really big on being loyal to those who have been loyal to him. Cohen certainly fits the mold.
Next up for Cohen is the ridiculous, and rather terrible-looking Hurricane Heist, which opens this week.
