Fast & Furious writer David Ayer
The filmmaker feels left out
David Ayer sees himself as an “outsider” in Hollywood.
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David Ayer can look back on a long Hollywood career. He still feels brought to his contribution to “Fast & Furious”.
“Suicide Squad” maker David Ayer (55) wrote as one of several authors on the screenplay for the first “Fast & Furious” film. But the screenwriter and director says he has “nothing to show” for his contribution to one of the most successful and financially profitable film series of our time. “The biggest franchise in Hollywood and I have none of it. I have nothing to show for it, nothing because of the way the business works,” he said in a new episode of the “Real Ones” podcast by actor Jon Bernthal (46).
David Ayers changes to ‘The Fast and the Furious’ script
In the interview, Ayer claims to have made a number of key changes and improvements to the script previously written by Gary Scott Thompson (63) and Erik Bergquist for what later became “The Fast and the Furious” from 2001. “When I got the script, it was set in New York, and it was all about Italian kids,” he noted.
As a result, he claims to have moved the scene of the first “Fast & Furious” film to Los Angeles and also provided significantly more realism. In his revision of the script, he made the characters look like the people “I know in LA”. For research purposes, Ayer also delved deeply into the culture of illegal street racing, which is so crucial for the first films in the franchise.
“I went to a garage in the Valley and met the first guys who worked with fuel injection and things like that […]. So I was like, ‘Yeah, dammit, I’m going to put that in the film’.”
Is David Ayer’s Contribution to the Fast & Furious Franchise Not Recognized?
In fact, the screenwriter of the iconic cop thriller “Training Day” (2001) names key elements of the very first “Fast & Furious” part here. A little unclear in the podcast conversation with Jon Bernthal, however, is exactly how Ayer feels unappreciated.
Finally, the filmmaker is listed as one of the official co-writers of The Fast and the Furious. Also, a writer new to a project is expected to make significant improvements to the existing material.
According to Ayer, however, he was deprived of his crucial contribution to the film series in the public eye by unnamed, powerful people in Hollywood. In the interview, Ayer describes himself as an “outsider” within the dream factory who would not go to important events such as parties or dinners.
According to him, Hollywood insiders who would have done so in contrast to him would have “hijacked the narrative” and deprived him of his contribution to “The Fast and the Furious”, while he was considered a “dark, creative guy”, which one must watch out for.