Credit: Far Out / YouTube Still
Sun 16 August 2026 21:45, UK
The name Mark Sinclair Vincent sounds like someone who works for an insurance firm.
Vin Diesel, on the other hand, is a name to conjure with. After donning this stage name to sound more menacing as a bouncer, Diesel made that moniker world-famous. As it currently stands, he is the ninth-highest grossing actor of all time, with his films raking in over $12billion in total.
A large contributor to this success has been the Fast & Furious franchise. Starting with the self-titled film in 2001 (the first self-titled film), the series has produced ten films – nine mainline and one spin-off – with an 11th instalment on the way. They’ve grossed over $7billion worldwide, making Fast & Furious the eighth-highest grossing franchise in film history. Even as the series goes to more and more ridiculous lengths, it remains eternally beloved by the general public.
Despite being the modern face of the franchise, Diesel wasn’t in the second instalment. His character, Dominic Toretto, didn’t appear at all in the hilariously titled 2 Fast 2 Furious. He famously turned the sequel down after deeming the script inferior to the original. The story instead revolved around Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) teaming up with his childhood friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) to take out a drug dealer.
Then came perhaps the strangest inclusion in the entire series. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was completely removed from the action of the first film. It focuses on a new character, Sean (Lucas Black), and his exploits in the Japanese capital. The film is notable for the introduction of Han Lue (Sung Kang), who would go on to become a recurring character.
Tokyo Drift had a budget of $85million, the highest in the series’ history up to that point. However, the test screenings showed that fans were struggling to connect with the film. Fearing the worst, director Justin Lin picked up the phone and called in the big guns.
Lin and Universal Pictures begged Diesel to reprise his role as Toretto with a cameo in Tokyo Drift. The actor agreed, but on the condition that he be given a much larger role in shaping the franchise behind the scenes. As Lin explained to the Los Angeles Times, this turned out to be a huge moment.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
“I remember we had this long talk by his pool,” he said, referring to Diesel. “He’s a big Dungeons & Dragons guy. We talked about what this franchise lacked: a mythology. There’s all these characters; they exist in this universe, and it’s important to respect that. I took that to heart.”
Diesel’s brief appearance did not have a massive impact on Tokyo Drift. It made just under $159m, which is nothing to sneeze at, but this was significantly lower than its two older siblings’ revenue. Weirdly, it’s also one of Christopher Nolan’s favourite films, but none of that matters.
What matters is that Diesel’s return to the franchise set in motion the monstrous success it would enjoy over the next decade or so. The next film made over $360m, while Fast Five, which is where many believe the series properly arrived, made over $626m. You can argue over the merits of the Fast “mythology” as much as you like, but the numbers don’t lie.
