What If PM Entertainment Produced The Fast and the Furious?
The Fast franchise has come a long way since the release of the original film (The Fast and the Furious) over two decades ago. I don’t think anybody, not even myself and those like-minded movie lovers, could have foreseen this rather paint by numbers street racing actioner evolving into a Mission Impossible-esque saga that included as many A-list stars as it did cars in its sequels. To think that we’ve had film after film filled with twists and turns (and not just of the driving variety) featuring people like The Rock, Jason Statham, John Cena, and of course the two men who benefited greatly from the success of that first film, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker (RIP).
Now, imagine if you will a world where Vin Diesel and Paul Walker never got those breakout roles in the first film, because the first film would have come years prior. Let your mind take you to a time and place where instead of Universal Studios banking on the film bringing in the big bucks with a huge summer release in theaters worldwide, this was a film that could be found in the action aisle of your favorite video store, courtesy of one of the most prominent production companies of the DTV era. Sit back, relax, and get into that 90’s state of mind, because I want you to picture The Fast and the Furious franchise originating at PM Entertainment!
Chances are if you’re a regular visitor to this site (and if you’re not and you’re a newbie, hello!), you’re familiar with PM Entertainment. Lord knows we’ve done our fair share of covering the numerous films under the PM banner, whether it’s friend of the site Michael Worth in To Be The Best, legends like Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Cynthia Rothrock getting top billing in films like Ring of Fire and Guardian Angel respectively. Oh, and how could I forget Firepower, a memorable effort from the early 90’s that featured Chad McQueen of Karate Kid fame, a young Gary Daniels, and the film debut of wrestling superstar The Ultimate Warrior, who shed his superhero persona to play the film’s villain! These films and more helped make PM into a powerhouse that ended up releasing over 100 films, mostly action and exploitation, before the company fell on hard times coincidentally enough just as The Fast and the Furious established Diesel and Walker as household names.
One trivia question that even hardcore action fanatics may not know the answer to is that prolific stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos actually “graduated” from stunt work on PM films like Rage and T-Force to being a part of the “Fast Family”! OK, it may not be fair to say graduated, since Spiro has had an illustrious career that has seen him work on everything from universally acclaimed flicks like The Goonies and Back To The Future cult classics like the Maniac Cop series and even Ski Patrol (not to be confused with the great Ski School, although the former is still a funny movie). This is a man with an amazing resume under his belt, and for the sake of this column it’s very cool to see that someone from the PM Entertainment realm has such a strong connection to one of modern cinema’s biggest hit franchises.
Now, with that backstory out of the way, let’s get to the real story…ok, maybe it’s not a real story, but it’s the real reason why you’re here! You’re curious to see what I’ve come up with for The Fast and The Furious if it were produced by the direct-to-video virtuosos at PM. We’re not going to tinker with the formula too much when it comes to the story; this is still about street racers, robberies, and the undercover cop who infiltrates Dominic Toretto’s crew. As for the casting, the same rule applies as it does to previous What If? columns; we’re only using actors and actresses that actually appeared in a PM film…
- Michael Worth as Brian O’Conner: I mentioned To Be The Best several paragraphs ago, which was the film that introduced me to that film’s leading man and expert on all things Bruceploitation, Mr. Worth. Here he’d take on the role that Paul Walker became best known for, a fitting spot for him thanks to the similarities in both their youthful appearances and actual age. Unlike Walker, Michael also had a background as a martial artist and an action star, so you can be certain that those skills would be put to the test in a F&F fight scene or two.
- Chad McQueen as Dominic Toretto: Chad played Cobra Kai’s bad boy Dutch in the original The Karate Kid, a role that is still referenced to this day on Cobra Kai though Dutch has gone unseen since the character is said to be in prison. Also mentioned earlier was Chad’s starring role in Firepower, which put him under the PM umbrella. Here in The Fast and the Furious, Chad would be doing his best to avoid prison as car-loving, cop-hating gang leader Dom, the guy who ends up letting Brian O’Conner into his inner circle and may end up regretting that choice. This is also a role that McQueen could have sunk his teeth into given his affinity for cars and racing, so much so that he owns a company dedicated to the development of custom cars and motorcycles, making his real life just as fast and furious as the life that he’d be living on screen!
- Brittney Powell as Mia Toretto: Putting Powell in the role of Dom’s younger sister that O’Conner winds up falling for would put the Powell/Worth coupling that we saw in To Be The Best back together. Although she got her big break by being a part of Playboy’s Girls of Spring Break, Powell had an innocent, youthful look that enabled her to land roles like the female lead in Airborne and guest spots on Saved By The Bell: The College Years and California Dreams. Those qualities make her perfect for the spot that would go to Jordana Brewster in the real world, that of the level-headed sibling and conscience of the Toretto crew.
- Traci Lords as Letty: This may seem like a left-field pick to some, given that Traci Lords doesn’t bear any similarities to Michelle Rodriguez, but when it comes to the Letty character you need someone who can juggle being a badass and a love interest. Lords did several films for PM (Intent To Kill, Ice) that put her in the role of action heroine, and I think she’d be perfect as the take-no-shit badass who gets Dom to let his guard down every now and then. If I’m being honest, I considered using Anna Nicole Smith in the Letty role, but I leaned into who would feel right in the role as opposed to fantasy booking some gratuitous stunt casting.
- Branscombe Richmond as Vince: Film or television, hero or villain, one thing is certain; Branscombe Richmond is a badass, and he will make his presence felt no matter what his role is. In the first Fast film, Vince is introduced as Dom’s right hand man who immediately takes a disliking to Brian O’Conner. Richmond’s intimidation factor will certainly come into play, with him making his thoughts on O’Conner known out loud on several occasions, giving us a martial arts oriented Brian vs. Vince battle before it’s broken up by the gang.
- William James Jones as Jesse: In the actual Fast and the Furious film, Jesse (played by Chad Lindberg) was a Pauly Shore-ish “California Dude” who was like the nerdy little brother of the crew. In the PM version, Jesse (played by Jones, known to many as Tony Wicks on NBC’s Saturday morning teen show California Dreams, but who also appeared with Ted Jan Roberts, Corey Feldman, and friend of the site Dean Cochran in A Dangerous Place) would be more street smart but still act as the comic relief when necessary. As any who has seen The Fast and the Furious knows, Jesse’s demise is a driving force in forging the bond between Brian and Dom, and out of all of the choices I considered, I felt that Jones had the best emotional range to make the death mean something in the PM version.
- Dustin Nguyen as Johnny Tran: This choice might be controversial to some due to the tragic accident that Nguyen was involved in in 2001 where Thuy Trang (the original Yellow Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) passed away and Nguyen’s fiancée was critically injured. Nguyen had martial arts skill that would mesh well with Michael Worth’s, he was a name from one of the most popular shows on TV during this time period (21 Jump Street), and it would allow me, for the sake of this column, to stay somewhat true to the original concept of the Johnny Tran character. The leader of the rival gang would end up in several brawls with our heroes, including the film’s final showdown with Brian O’Conner that would be a nice showcase for both Nguyen and Worth.
- Ron Yuan as Lance Nguyen: Yuan should be a familiar face to 90’s martial arts film fans; in a matter of several years, he appeared in Ring of Fire and its first sequel, Street Crimes, To Be The Best, Bloodfist V, the final two Vanishing Son made for TV movies, and the film adaptation of popular video game Double Dragon! We’re absolutely going to take advantage of this man’s resume and get him in our Fast film, where he’ll play Johnny Tran’s cousin, who ends up playing a major role in the film’s climax.
- Deron McBee as Leon: The former American Gladiator would trade in his pugil sticks for stick shifts so that he could be the guy who runs interference for the Toretto crew. After 8 Fast sequels with more on the way, will we ever find out what happened to Leon, who hasn’t been seen since the original film? Will our Leon have a more specific end, be it happy or sad? This may go down as one of Hollywood (and fake Hollywood)’s greatest mysteries!
That covers the main cast for the most part, so now we get to focus on cameos! If we’re doing a deep dive (drive?) into street race culture, we’ve got to give it some hip hop flair, and that’s why none other than Snoop Dogg will be one of the racers that interacts with the crew! Snoop would star in Hot Boyz in 2000, but we’d bump his PM debut up by a few years to get him some on-screen time for a few moments. Character actor Robert LaSardo (Tiger Heart), who has played everything from drug kingpins to cops in hundreds of films and shows, would play Hector, another friend from the street race scene. Lastly, we need our authority figures, aka the ones overseeing Brian O’Conner’s undercover operation; Sergeant Tanner would be played by William Forsythe (Direct Hit), while FBI Agent Bilkins would be played by none other than Steven Williams of LA Heat fame!
While I can fantasy book the cast with ease, we need to be somewhat realistic about the approach here; there’s no way PM Entertainment is going to be able to compete budget-wise with a summer blockbuster. That’s not to say there wouldn’t be plenty of car-flipping and exploding, especially since PM certainly put a fair share of the former into their projects, however the reason I made sure to cast people with martial arts skills was so that we can mix in some fisticuffs along with the gunplay and explosions. The PM Entertainment version of The Fast and the Furious would be a cornucopia of violence for action fanatics, but it won’t stray from the original premise of fast cars and things that go boom.
As a teenager in the DTV era, this is the type of film that would have been perfect for a weekend rental (and most likely an eventual slot in my movie collection). Although it’s missing the mega-million dollar budgets, exotic settings, and pro wrestlers in the cast, this version of the famous franchise would easily be PM Entertainment’s opus; an all-star epic of video store cinema. Could it have become successful and morphed into an action juggernaut that kept the shelves full of its sequels? That might be the topic for another column on another day…
