The roar of engines echoed through the streets of Rio de Janeiro as two muscle cars sped by. Their lightning-fast speed made it nearly impossible to distinguish the cars' shapes, as if two silver-gray streaks of lightning had just zipped past.
Even the footage captured by the high-speed cameras wasn't particularly clear.
"This is exhilarating!"
Standing under the large umbrella of an open-air café, temporarily rented by the crew, Paul Walker couldn't help but express his admiration. "This is the kind of speed men should be driving at!"
Gal Gadot chimed in, "Going over 150 miles per hour—most people couldn't handle it. It's way too dangerous."
Matthew nodded in agreement, his tone more serious. "At that speed, even the smallest mistake would be fatal."
Paul Walker glanced at both Matthew and Gal Gadot, shaking his head. "Come on, I was just admiring the speed. You don't have to make it sound so grim."
Tyrese Gibson interjected, "I wouldn't dare drive that fast, anyway."
The two cars returned, significantly slower than before.
Matthew didn't say more but took a moment to observe the route they were driving on. To shoot several street racing scenes, the production had hired many professional drivers and closed off four streets in Rio at a high cost.
In New York, closing four main streets would have been impossible unless filming took place at dawn, but in Rio, with enough money, it was easy to get things done.
In fact, the local government in Rio had even sent a large police force to assist the crew in blocking off the streets for filming.
The two cars stopped near the open-air café, and Matthew and Paul Walker approached, ready to get in for the next shot.
The two professional drivers had just filmed scenes standing in for Matthew and Paul Walker. The crew would now shoot a new take, and through post-production editing, it would look as if the two actors were the ones driving at high speeds.
Matthew approached his car, a custom Mercedes made specifically for filming, with which he was very familiar.
Paul Walker was already inside his Dodge Challenger, excitedly fiddling with the car's controls.
Justin Lin walked over and reminded both Matthew and Paul, "Stick to the planned route!" He made sure to emphasize to Paul, "Keep the speed steady and stay in sync with Matthew."
Everyone in the crew knew about Paul Walker's love for speed.
"Don't worry!" Paul Walker nodded. "I've got this."
With Justin Lin's command, filming quickly resumed.
A Mercedes AMG and a Dodge Challenger slowly started up, driving forward at no more than 30 miles per hour.
Though the cars were moving slowly, Matthew and Paul Walker were actively handling the controls, allowing the cameramen in the backseat to capture the needed shots.
The cars reached a crossroads and then stopped.
Filming paused, but Matthew and Paul Walker remained in the vehicles, waiting for Justin Lin's next order.
"Action!"
Hearing Justin Lin's voice through the loudspeaker, Matthew pressed the gas pedal, and the Mercedes AMG surged forward, though the speed remained below 30 miles per hour.
A car behind them began to close in, and then the sound of gunfire rang out.
Matthew rolled down his window, controlling the car with one hand while raising a short-barreled shotgun with the other. He fired a shot at the car speeding alongside him.
The prop gun spewed smoke from the barrel, shattering the passenger window of the car beside him. The stunt driver inside collapsed as if he'd been shot, and the "out-of-control" vehicle veered toward the side of the road.
More cars gave chase, and the gunfire intensified.
Soon, the back window and passenger side window of Matthew's car shattered.
At that critical moment, a black motorcycle appeared like a phantom behind the pursuers. The rider's long hair fluttered in the wind, and despite wearing large goggles, it was easy to recognize Gal Gadot.
Gal Gadot's character sped past the attackers, firing shots from a handgun. The tires of several cars appeared to burst from the impact.
Of course, no accidents actually occurred during filming.
At this point, shooting was paused, and Matthew, Paul Walker, and Gal Gadot stepped away from the set. The remaining stunts—car crashes, flips, and explosions—would be handled by the stunt performers.
Matthew and Paul Walker's characters were in their cars most of the time, so they didn't need to perform many of these stunts themselves. However, Gal Gadot's character, Gisele, didn't wear a helmet in this scene, so she occasionally had to shoot some close-up shots in front of dramatic backgrounds.
It was a bit unrealistic for Gisele to not wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle, but after discussing it with Justin Lin, Matthew agreed to keep the design. After all, this movie was full of improbable action scenes, so one more wouldn't hurt.
Like in the previous film, Gisele was portrayed as a strong, independent character. In this scene, Sean and Brian, the two main characters, relied on Gisele as a crucial element in their ambush against the gang, fully displaying her role as a firearms expert.
Matthew was well aware that the Fast and Furious series had a primarily male audience, unlike the Twilight series, which mainly attracted young women. However, the vast difference in budget between the two franchises meant that Twilight could afford to ignore male viewers, while the Fast and Furious series needed to appeal to some female audiences as well.
In addition to the natural draw of Matthew and Paul Walker, the character of Gisele was designed specifically for female viewers.
Strong, independent, and not in need of saving by a man, Gisele was the type of character who, in crucial moments, would end up saving the men instead. This kind of role was very appealing to female audiences at the time.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the traditional damsel-in-distress character had become outdated.
Even Disney, the factory for princes and princesses, had begun to design princesses who broke free from their cages and explored the world on their own.
It wouldn't be long before strong female characters would fully establish themselves as a vital element on the big screen.
Filming in Rio de Janeiro continued without a hitch, with cars crashing and being wrecked almost daily. Occasionally, the sound of explosions could be heard from several blocks away.
Unlike the smooth production, traffic in that part of Rio quickly descended into chaos. By the later stages of filming, neighboring streets were regularly experiencing heavy congestion.
However, few locals dared to mess with the crew, with the exception of a small gang.
One small gang somehow infiltrated the four closed-off streets and injured a member of the props department, but they were quickly and brutally subdued by the crew's security team.
After that incident, no other gangs from Rio de Janeiro attempted to cause trouble.
Rio's reputation for crime was well known. It wasn't just the "City of God," it was also a city of sin. But everyone knew that a top-tier Hollywood production crew was not to be trifled with. The bigger gangs had too much business to conduct to risk antagonizing such a powerful international operation, and the smaller gangs couldn't even handle the crew's hired security.
The street-racing and action sequences continued smoothly, and by mid-March, filming in Rio de Janeiro was nearing its end.
With most of the cast leaving the city, Matthew was soon the only main actor left.
Finally, on March 20th, the crew completed the last scene in Rio and returned to Los Angeles.
But upon returning to LA, there was no time to rest. Matthew immediately jumped into the promotional circuit.
13th Studio, Skydance Productions, and Disney jointly organized a press conference, which required Matthew and Justin Lin to attend to help kick off the film's early promotion.
The idea that large-scale promotion leads to greater box office success and profits had long been ingrained in Hollywood.
Last September, Paranormal Activity, distributed by Paramount, once again proved that low-budget horror films could achieve massive box-office success.
That film, made by just three people with a budget of $11,000, grossed over $100 million at the North American box office!
Everyone was amazed and couldn't stop talking about the incredible return on investment. But insiders knew how much Paramount had invested. When they realized the film had blockbuster potential, Paramount spent over $6 million just to produce additional copies for distribution.
Though the cost of acquiring the rights wasn't much, they spent more than $20 million on marketing.
Without that large-scale marketing campaign, the film wouldn't have been such a success.
At the press conference, when asked by reporters, Matthew confidently praised the film he had invested in.
"We set out to make Fast and Furious 5 the high point of the series. We aimed for it to surpass the previous films in every way—whether in terms of the length of the car chases, the complexity of the character relationships, or even the production budget."
Speaking confidently in front of the cameras, Matthew said, "I have absolute faith in Fast and Furious 5 because each film in the series has steadily gained more audience approval. This franchise has consistently moved upward, and with the fifth installment, we wanted to bring everything together and incorporate ideas that we hadn't been able to use before. As long as they made sense, we included them."
He specifically mentioned the Rio scenes. "There's a chase scene that takes place on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, with the protagonists being pursued by dozens of police cars, racing across the entire city. I've never seen anything like it before—it was absolutely breathtaking! These action sequences are unlike anything the audience has ever seen, and most importantly, they were all filmed for real! This film will undoubtedly be the most iconic entry in the series!"
After this year
's Oscars, 13th Studio, Skydance Productions, and Disney all began ramping up their promotional efforts for Fast and Furious 5, building substantial buzz around the film.
Meanwhile, in New York, someone was making moves.
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