Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Capes and Tights podcast right here on Capesandtights.com I'm your host, Justin Soderbergh. This episode is once again brought to you by our friends over at Galactic Comics and Collectibles at galactic comics and collectibles.com Moving to a new location on down the street this weekend. So good luck to them and congratulations to Galactic Comics. But this episode we talked to Barry Hertz, the author of welcome to the Family, a book about the Fast and the Furious. The actual title is welcome to the Family, the explosive story behind Fast and Furious, the blockbusters that supercharged the world, which hit bookstores on November 22nd of last year. But Barry came on to chat the book Fast and Furious and so much more. Barry is an award winning chief film critic for the Globe and Mail, Canada's leading national newspaper based in Toronto. But he's talking Fast and the Furious in his book welcome to the Family right here on the podcast. Before you listen though, find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, bluesky, Threads, all those places. You can rate, review, subscribe over on Spotify, Apple or wherever you find your podcast. You can find the video portion of this podcast over on YouTube.com and as always, you can check out capes and tights dot com. This is Barry Herz, author of welcome to the Family right here on the Capes and Tights podcast. Enjoy.
Welcome to the podcast. Barry, how are you today?
[00:01:20] Speaker B: I'm great. Thank you very much, Justin, for having me.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: I'm, I'm glad. It's actually, I live in Maine. Okay. So I live in, near Bangor, Maine. And it's, it's winter and so it's, it's snowing right now. But like my parents live in Connecticut and they got like 14 inches and we're expected to get like, I don't know, three inches or so maybe in the storm. And there are like places closing like for the day. And I'm like, yeah, we're from Maine. We know this is normal. This is another Monday. I don't know what's going on.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: I feel, I, you know, I feel like in the past it's similar in Toronto too, because when I was growing up, you know, we get snow, you know, pretty regular.
And when I was growing up, I think in my entire, you know, childhood I had three snow days like for my whole life. And I feel this year we've already had two. Like this year I feel we're just like, we're, we, we're not tough anymore. Just like, you know, snow like, you know, call it a day, we're done, whatever.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: And I think that's obviously not late in the year because they're still like in the heart of the winter. But like as you get to the end of February, I think there are schools are also like we have built in snow days here in Maine so we haven't used enough this year. So let's, let's use one just because, because it's just kind of funny how that is, you know, it's. I don't know, I just feel like it's snowing out but like it's two o' clock in the afternoon here in Maine and it's not like, I don't know, all day they've been closed and it literally just started snowing like maybe an hour ago. And I was like, I don't buy
[00:02:44] Speaker B: this preventative kind of like pre snow. Let's, let's just wait and see until it happens.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: You could have done business for like six hours if you opened at 8 o' clock in the morning. But whatever, you know. I'm also from Maine so we complain about the weather a lot. It's too snowy, it's too cold, it's too windy, it's too everything. There's never a time, it's about two weeks in the entire year that we're actually happy with the weather here in Maine. And so it's just part of our, our lives. We just complain about the, the weather here. But we could talk about something more sunny, which is the fast and fur. It's actually. That's right. Well, some of them are, but some of them are cold. But number eight is pretty chilly. But so it's kind of funny. So I, I don't know who you are. I'll admit that right now I'm not from Canada, so I don't read your stuff, you know, your views and things like that, all that stuff.
But I did. I am a regular person on NetGalley because I review books and things like that for our website casentice.com and so this came up. This, your book came up on the, on the newly added. And I was like, oh my God, I need to read this because two reasons. One is Fast and Furious has a. I remember like trying to tune cars up when I was growing up because of these movies that were not tunable cars. You're talking like in my mom's car where I'm like, I'll buy your car off of you and I'm getting like exhaust systems for a car that's like, it's not. This is. This is just me trying to waste money.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah. It's like trying to like, I got a Dodge Caravan here. What can I do with it? Let me do it.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: So. And then also I'm a huge into when I love something. I want to know more about it.
And I recently chatted with Brian Raffry about Hannibal Lecter because he just did his book Hannibal Lecter. And I talked to Ashley Collins about. About her Scream book. So, like, when I get into something I love something, I want someone else to do all the research. And then I read that thing or watch that thing. And so those two things combined together. When you have such a passion for something and someone writes something like this, I was so excited to jump into. To reading these things and it's such a fun, like, throwback, but also not because of the fact that it's also still kind of happening. So, like, reading a book about the Back to the future is. It's the past. You know, this is still going. So, like, you might need to do like, a updated version of this book in the next couple of years. I know. I think you mentioned it towards the end. I did read a little while ago. So, like, you did mention that you had to stop. It's like there is a point where you have to stop doing this. Like.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: I mean, keep on can't hold it until it actually ends. The franchise.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah. I mean, there was like, initially kind of my thinking of, you know, pitching the book when I was pitching it. And the timeline of the publication was okay. Like, if we match everything just right, we can get this out for the next sequel for. For part 11.
And it would be a nice tie in and we could kind of ride the coattails, the exhaust fumes of that release.
And then, you know, as I was working on that, it was becoming increasingly clear that was not going to happen. Which provided its own, you know, point of tension and drama, which was, you know, need to follow. But at the same time as, you know, like, you're working on a book and there's. You can only write. So, you know, to. Up to a certain point before the production process has to start and has to go out into the world. So you are. You have to kind of build in for like, a big period of like, oh, that's the end, I guess, you know. So that was. That was tricky.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Well, I talked a number of years ago to Douglas Woke about. He was his book about Marvel Comics and he wrote, he read like, every legit Marvel Comics you're not talking like the NFL Blitz comics or whatever, but, like the Marvel specific comics. And he read out all of them to write this book. And I'm like, well, at some point they're still making comics. Like, that was five, six years ago. And now you're still. So, like, you have to some point say, okay, this is where I'm stopping, and we'll go from there. And I think that, you know, it may add this little, like, oh, bonus thing in the future to write something about, you know, 11 in the future of the thing.
But to me, so. So for those who don't know, actually, as we're recording, this is. Why did you write the book in the first place? Are you a huge. Were you, like, going into this a big Fast and the Furious fan, or did you just see that this story need to be told? And so now I'm going to tell it. What was it? Both.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: I mean, it was. It was both. But I went into it as. As a fan. Like, I have been following the series, you know, from the very first film. You know, I have very strong memories of watching that when I was working in. I was working in a movie theater in 2001 as, like a popcorn sweeper, you know, and I would, you know, I probably. I'd watch that movie in bits and pieces, like, 20 times in addition to sitting down and actually watching it through and through on opening weekend, which I would do with all the new releases then, because the benefit of working at a movie theater, you get free movie tickets.
So I've been following it, like, sincerely, as a fan throughout, you know, the past two decades plus.
And I, you know, I, you know, my fandom was, like, off. It went through peaks and valleys. Like, I feel the franchise itself went through peaks and valleys. But I remember when 5 came out was like, a really kind of pivotal moment. And my fandom and I feel a lot of people's fandom and just more intensely following the trajectory of this franchise is like, whoa, what are they doing here? This is insane.
So, like, the films that I've probably most written about in my day job as a critic for the Globe and Mail newspaper up here in Toronto is.
Is these films are the ones I've thought about the most. And then it was also a matter of, like, well, you know, I really would love to write a book about something I'm, like, an expert at or interested in.
And like you just said, like, there's. There's a million books out there about Star Wars. There's a million about James Bond. There's a million about Marvel or Ghostbusters, like, you know, like every, like a Godfather. Like all those kind of like seismic properties that I feel a certain generation of filmgoer were raised on. There's books out about them multiples. But I was like, what hasn't been written about that would provide a good source of entertainment? Education, insight, whatever, history.
As I just staring me right in the face, it was fast movies. So I was like, okay, boom, I'm gonna do it.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: It's funny too because, you know, you probably. I mean, there is a history there. There's 10 movies. There's. There's, you know, offshoots. There's. There's all these different things that have, you know, there's toys we're talking about before you start recording, but there's like toys and things. But like the first three or four movies, five movies probably would have been enough to write a book about in the first place. Like there's more from 6 to 10 in the hob stuff and all that stuff. But like, like the first five movies are so culturally impactive. The fact that they ended up making that many more movies, the Tokyo Drift of it all, you know, those things are probably enough for me to go, I would want to hear this story anyway. But then there's just so much more that made the book actually be, you know, have some girth to it because of the fact that there is a long history. And it is surprising that you are, you know, like breaking ground here, telling a story about a movie that has a series that has 10 plus movies in it. Like, that's insane that it hasn't been anything that's like this investigative and this impactful. For a franchise that is that impactful, it's pretty crazy.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: It is, yeah. Thank you. And I thought like the, like, there were kind of like two separate tracks, two separate roads. Let's, let's abuse all the, the driving metaphors here in the conversation. There's like the evolution of the films themselves, which is its own fascinating about, you know, how like the first movie, like a relatively grounded B movie, point break rip off street level thriller, evolved into this truly like globe trotting super spy adventure. That's fascinating on the one hand. And then you have everything that went on behind the scenes off screen to make those films and sometimes derail those films, which is kind of, I feel like an unprecedented. The public has been part of like an unprecedented look into the growth of a franchise. Like, I feel we just don't know that much about what Went on the Star wars movies behind Marvel movies. You know, we get bits and pieces, but like here we have very public contract disputes. You know, we have a very public beef between the two, two of the central stars and we have the death of one of the main actors in a deeply tragic and ironic way.
So I felt that there was just so much there to explore and the public, it wasn't. I mean, you know, I get to things that haven't been reported before, certainly, but the public already, I feel had like a, like the readership out there had a vested interest because they were like these things, they were aware of them, they were floating out there. But we just kind of needed to connect it all into one, you know, 25 year story.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Is all those things you mentioned. But also like, yes, this is based on an article that was written years and years and years ago. The first movie was based on that, you know, the investigative reporting of street racing and so on. And. But the truth of the matter is a ten plus movie franchise that has no history in real sense of it. Like seeing Grogu and the Mandalorian or Mandalorian Grogu come out, that the trailer looks amazing, can't wait. But like there's a history to that and there's a lot involved in that. There's comics and books and other movies and TV shows. And the same thing with Marvel you mentioned, like there's a, when you see the 25th, 5th or 30th MCU movie, you're like, yeah, but there's, there's a reason. There's a humongous thing behind these things with a long history. Like this is one of the few franchises with this many movies in it that has like organic growth to it on its own. Like, you know, James Bond, again, iconic character. Like this is like there is no real. I mean obviously you have Vin Diesel and you have Paul Walker. Those guys were like, there's no like James Bond in these movies. And so to see it go from what it started as to what it is now, multi billion dollar movies and it be really organically grown is just fascinating to me. And they, I think that is what some people hate. You know, they hate us because they ain't us. Because they were able to craft this franchise basically from nothing and is what it is now. And I think a lot of are like, yeah, but it's not Star wars or whatever it may be. And I think that. But these are almost better in that sense. I mean, have you seen current Jurassic park movies? Right?
Yeah, the ninth and Tenth movie in this series are better and more connected and more makes more sense than the new movies for Jurassic Park. And that's a historic and iconic franchise. It's crazy.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: It is. I mean, that's exactly part of why wanted to explore it is because it is so unique among Hollywood franchises.
And it is also something that I feel perhaps because of that lack of underlying emotional historical attachment, it's easier for a lot of people to shrug off to, to dismiss. Perhaps they're like, oh, Fast and Furious. That's that stupid thing. Like, yeah, like I guess, you know, it comes around every two years. Yeah, whatever.
But I feel like it hasn't been given its fair shake in terms of its cultural importance, its significance in the history of the film industry. I mean, we are talking about one of the highest grossing franchises of all time.
And yet.
Yeah. Whenever its name kind of comes up, if you're not like part of that like committed super fandom, it's so easy to shrug off. And I was so part of this was trying to like. No, actually there's, there's a lot here. These things don't happen.
It might been organic, but it's not accidental. Like a lot of people, time, energy, thinking strategy, like went into this.
People didn't just trip over into a multibillion dollar franchise.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Yes, well, and I think I, I wanted to. As I was. You're talking, I was thinking as well, like, I think it's more like also like MCU movie comes out, people are just gonna go see it. And then from the early on, once Iron man and all those movies came out, it was like after that little, the first three or four movies, people were just like, I'm gonna go see these movies because they're good and, and I know the characters and yada, yada yada. And the same with Star Wars. It was like when they were gonna make the prequel trilogy in the early 2000s, people were just gonna go see it because it was more Star Wars. I don't think that was as easy as three and three and four for, for, for or even two for Fast and Furious that there was enough people who were like, I'm just gonna go see. I think there are people who went and saw like Fast 8 because they just wanted to see what the, what antics the groups was going to get up to next. I think there is that built in, like it's popcorn movie. I just want to go see this movie and be entertained. It doesn't really matter what happens. I think there's that built into it now. Too. Which they didn't have early on. I know.
And you mentioned also the people.
I'm just like a picture in my mind, like my neighbors growing up being like that stupid friggin and Furious movie. And that's why my neighbor has a loud exhaust now. And like blaming the society, you know, like blaming the culture. What, what, what expanded crazily in rural communities across this country and world for people tuning cars. Like I mentioned my mom's like, sedan turning it into a tuner car, which was not there. They didn't make tuner parts for it, but I was making it work. They created this, this, they built this, you know, what was already a culture and expanded it into places that never would have ever been able to see this stuff if it wasn't for these movies. And I remember vividly that, like me going to see this movie in the theaters, like seeing the trailers for. For Fast and Furious one was like, oh, I watched the trailer probably a ton of times, just here and there, random things and. And I wanted to go see this movie. So I went and saw the movie and it was Fast and Furious 2 where I skipped school. We talked about snow days when we were talking earlier and that there was enough snow days. I believe in that year that school went into June here in Maine and it was like one of the last few days of school. And we're like, hey, it's school, it's the end of the year, whatever. And I actually skipped like the second half of classes that day in high school in 2000, I was soph. Was it probably my sophomore year in high school? No, Junior year in high school to go see 2 Fast 2 Furious because we were like so amped up about a sequel to the movie we love so much.
And it was just, to me, it was an impactful thing.
But nowadays I feel like I know there's people on podcasts and TV interviews who are like, I just go see the Fast and the Furious movies in the theater now because it's just so much fun. I don't care what goes on these movies. I just want to go see these movies.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: Well, you know, I mean, they also have a very flexible relationship with continuity, chronology.
You can. That's the other thing. I mean, like, as you say, like, yeah, I guess you could go see the Mandalorian and Grogu, having never seen an episode of Mandalorian or even potentially never an episode of Star wars. But you would be missing out on a ton of lore and world building and a lot of the, you know, elements of that world would be completely lost on you.
Yes, you can, but you can go into a Fast and Furious movie and, yeah, you'll miss some of the relationships and the depth of the. The family quote unquote. But also, you know exactly what you're getting. You're not being sold the false bill of goods. You are getting fast cars and you're getting fur action.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: It almost makes more sense not to see the movies before this.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, there's definitely.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: There's portions of these movies. You were like, I've seen number one and now we're in space. And so maybe if I didn't see number one, it make more sense to me sometimes. I love this series. This is not me crapping on the series. This is me saying that there's times we were like. Because in my mind, number one was so amazing to me. When I see ludicrous in space, it's. It throws me for a loop and I'm like, but that's what's so fun about this series is they're able to take risks and do these things and really obviously get away with it, but. And make it work well. Yeah.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: And what I have also admired about it is that they're taking those. There's a sense of risk taking is, like, inherent now. It's baked into the franchise. Like, every subsequent installment, like, needs to double up on what came before.
And it's that ambition where, as I find so many sequels, they kind of take that notion of going bigger by just stuffing, overstuffing it with like, a lot of what you liked before, but just more of it. But instead of actually trying to level that up into something a bit more ambitious or something a bit more grander. And I think it's safe to say, like, that has always been the case with the fast movies is like, oh, you like this car chase? We're okay, well, we're going to do one that is, you know, going to. You thought the physics of that were impossible. Well, get out your scientific calculator because you're gonna need it.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: It's, it's.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: It.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: But I think, and that's probably, I think, what some of the pushback also is because there is this, like, love, love, love, love the franchise group of people. And there's this other side, which is they just hate the franchise group of people. And the people in the middle, there is this three. Like, most the time I see people who are like, massive fans or not. But like this one, there is that one in the middle where people are like, I just don't get it. And then there's people who are like, I don't care. This is awesome. And then the people who are just like, I. I haven't seen anything. I've never even seen the first one.
And. Because maybe they don't like cars or whatever it might be. But. But there's just something. And the evolution is, is it wasn't like one happened and then like eight, nine happened. You know, I mean, like, there is an evolution in this. There is a spot where you can see, if you watch all the movies, it does. Like you mentioned, it doubles or it gets crazier and crazier and crazier. Also, every horror movie franchise you've ever seen has gone to space now, too. So why not fast?
[00:20:44] Speaker B: And, yeah, Jason and Leprechaun, you can go help. Pinhead was up there, I think, at one point, I'm sure. I mean, they haven't sent Michael Myers into space. I don't know.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: Is Art the Clown gonna go into space in Terrifier 4? Who knows? We'll see.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Yeah, who knows? Like, I, you know, even, you know, even Pennywise. I mean, he came from space.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: Exactly. But, like, it just has this, like, that's all. I think that's a lot. Also, what people go down to is that one scene, too, is a very. One in my group of friends is talked about a lot too. Like, hey, that movie, they went to space. And it was like, yes, but you're exaggerating a little bit on this thing. It's like the guy who jumped, the guy who skydived from space as well. He wasn't like on the moon, guys.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly. They. They, like, broke through the exosphere or something. But, like, they weren't colonizing Mars.
I will say, like, I know the space moment is very polarizing.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: And I went into writing the book being anti space. Yes, I did. I didn't think it worked. But then after talking with a lot of people who were involved in crafting that moment and seeing what their intentions were, and then re. Watching it and revisiting it and putting into the context of the franchise's evolution, I came out of it very pro space. I was like, this is actually. This is a very, you know.
You know, Ryan, witty kind of conversation with itself, you know, remarking upon how the franchise has come so far and so high and so crazy. And I. I like it. So I'm. I'm record. I'm on the record as pro space.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: Well, I think it's also, like you said, you put it in contacts or you just. The people who are complaining the most about are the people who weren't going to go see the movie.
It's like, yeah, it was an easy
[00:22:27] Speaker B: punchline for them to single out. Like, oh, the dumb car movies now in space. How do you like that? And I'd be like, I like it just fine, thanks.
Move on with your day.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: I don't like I said, I mentioned to you right before we started recording, I don't like spoiling things that are in the book, obviously, because you have. I want people to read the book. But there's one thing that I want to mention that not a single actor is in every single movie.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: No, I mean this is, I mean, you know, it sounds, it's surprising when you say it out loud, but it's true. Like because of various contract disputes and everything. Like, no, there is not one single actor who has appeared in all the movies. Movies. You know, Vin obviously comes the closest. Even though, you know, spoiler for a 17 year old movie now that he, you know, he's in the, he's in the very final few seconds of Tokyo Drift. But because he wasn't in two and then because Paul Walker wasn't in three and then because Paul Walker passed in the middle of seven, like, no, there isn't, there isn't one single actor. So it's not even one single car. Because the, you know, the Dodge Charger, which I would say this is the signature vehicle of the series, was not in two and it wasn't in three either.
[00:23:34] Speaker A: So it was just fascinating. When I read that line, I was like, that, that doesn't make sense there. You're not right about that thought about it. I'm like, well, Vin Diesel's in all of them and technically he's not. And so I was like, that's crazy to think about that. However, in a franchise with this many movies, to have someone like Vin Diesel be in that many of the movies is surprising in general too.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: I mean, that's the thing because in all the other longest running franchises that we have, it's always like there's been a period of resetting and recasting and rebooting. Like we've had like how many Batmans have we had?
How many Spider Mans?
[00:24:09] Speaker A: Who's gonna be the next James Bond?
[00:24:11] Speaker B: Joker? James Bond, like, there's always a sense. But like for this you might have like, yeah, the odd movie where it didn't work out and they went on a sideways kind of adventure, but the character of like Don Toretto is Vin Diesel. You do not recast Dom Toretto. Like, you know, like, I don't. Can't even think of the equivalent. You know, like a bald cap. Colin Farrell isn't gonna wander into 11 and call himself Dom. It's just not gonna happen.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Well, that's right. It's like dom existed in. In 2 Fast 2 Furious, but he just wasn't in the movie. Like, he was this in the world we were in, just not in the movie. He was in a different spot. It's a. It's a spin off, you know, on. On the Dom storyline. But he's technically. So technically he's in the movie, quote, unquote, but he's not actually acting in the movie. He's somewhere out in the world somewhere. So. Whereas other characters I like, the passing of Paul was. Was pretty. Pretty crazy. And. And you talk about that in the book too, which I don't want to get into, so people to read it, but like the evolution of casting and acting and all that stuff with Paul's brothers and, and CGI and all that stuff. And one of the reasons probably why it was a fast eight was so successful as well is because of that as well.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: But curiosity factor of what they do,
[00:25:24] Speaker A: what they would do.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Paul Walker era.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: Yeah, but I mean, this, this series. And you talk about in the book that this series is so groundbreaking to the point where I don't think a lot of people understand, you know, the people and the different races and cultural input in this. In even the first movie, in the second movie, all that stuff is, like, groundbreaking at the time. Obviously you talk about it in the book there, but do you want to touch on that a little bit about what. What that was like early on the series of this book, for this movie? I mean.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because they were first in on the ground on a lot, in a lot of different ways. I think one of the most, you know, we can talk about car culture, but we can also talk about diversity and on screen representation. Right. Like these movies were doing, quote, unquote, diversity before. That was like kind of a mandate from on high.
It was, as you said, like an organic thing. Like they were trying to be authentic in terms of what, you know, Southern California car culture looked like at the time. And that looked very, you know, colorful.
It was, you know, a lot of Asian American kids as black kids. It was Hispanic. It was a whole melange. And they cast it in that regard.
And you also cast it with Vin Diesel, who is, you know, famously ethnically Ambiguous and deliberately so and so that, like, a lot of people who didn't see themselves on screen could see themselves now through the prism of Dom or through Michelle Rodriguez's character or through Tyrese and Ludacris. Like, and you keep on bringing those characters back, and you expand the canvas. You know, you go to Tokyo in Part three, you bring in Sun Kang's character, you get some real Asian American representation, which hadn't been done on that level before, like a big summer blockbuster.
And you really just kind of expand the portrait very naturally. And that appealed to audiences that felt historically underserved.
And there was nothing, I would argue, you know, crass or exploitative about was very much trying to reach people and speak to them where they were.
And that's why it was. You know, that's a big reason why it became so huge.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: And on top of the racial or cultural part of it, also the female, the women's part of it, too. It's like the idea that you had women characters in this show that actually, this movie, that actually meant something. They weren't B side characters. There were, like, integral racing and group family dynamics of these people, whether it's Dom's sister or Leti. Like, you have this.
They're part of this. They're. They're not like the side characters or a spin. Like, these are the racing corps, the core people who were stealing. Spoiler. Again, if you haven't seen Fast and the furious one, stealing things from. From. From 18 wheelers were all of the people. It wasn't like, oh, we're gonna sideline. The men are gonna go do this thing.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
Women were guarding the home front or anything like that. Like, ladies behind the wheel.
You know, Emir's behind the wheel.
They're constantly introducing strong female, well, villains, certainly, once Charlize Theron gets involved. But it goes. It stretches to Gina Carano as well.
And, yeah, it was. It's been fascinating to watch it look. And it. You also look at it in terms of even relationships. Like, I. I do feel like the Dom Letty dynamic is not only unique in and of itself because you have these, like, two, like, alpha characters coming together. Like, neither one is like, the. The weaker of the two. Like, they're very equally matched.
And also they've been together on screen for so long. I do feel like the Dom Letty romance is, like, the longest on screen romance in cinematic history, which is kind of like a crazy thing to say.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: And it's awesome to see because it's like, I don't Know all the shit they've been through to see them, like, be where they were and stuff like that. Yeah, to me, it was like, I remember, like, in downtown Bangor, Maine, here, where I would drive our cars and we'd park downtown. There was actually signs being put up about not loitering in downtown after business hours or things like that because of these movies that made us go, hey, let's go down here and just sit down here, talk. And it was like, equal mix of male, female. It was insane to me in seeing that because prior to that, it was like, racing is a man's sport kind of thing. And. And seeing that again. You mentioned seeing yourself on screen. Seeing your. Your. Your race on screen is probably very impactful, but also seeing strong women that also were in a relationship. But Leti was really independent too. Like, she could stand on her own. She was more badass than some of the men that were in this movie as well as. Yes, she was in relationship with Dom, but didn't put up with. Wasn't like, hey, I'm just gonna stand over here. Listen what you have to say. It was like, no, she fought back.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: I mean, and that was strong evident from, like, the first film, right? Where she's, like, telling the skanks be gone in the. In the parking lot scene there. Like, yeah, no, she's not like a wilting flower or anything like that. And she could easily, like, I don't know if we want to do a Dom versus Levi. Like, there's no question in her mind she could take down Tyrese without a, you know, flinching of muscle.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Tyrese is also not a good. Like, that's okay, but. No, that's true. I mean, I always, like, it's just one of those things. And I always like the. The Paul and now Paul Walker and what's the actress. Deanna Brewster.
Jordan Brewster. Their relationship, too, is always fun, too. But yeah, I think that, like, I love the relationship between Dom and Letty. I think that was a cool from the beginning. Again, one of those things. It's also one of those things. The first movie was like, you know, like, you watch a movie as a young, growing adolescent and you want, like, I see myself with, like, I was always attracted to Jordana Brewster in the movie, but it was like I couldn't have her because she has. Paul has it. The leady one was always like, this back and forth where, like, they were close enough together in a good enough relationship, but they also had their own things where it was like, maybe one day they won't last. And I'm going to be able to in there and date one of them. But they are the ones that lasted long. And it was. It was pretty cool to see that, how that evolution happened. And I wanted to. Before I forget, I wanted to touch on the. The release in the movie in 2001 also right around. That was a bad year, obviously, with 9, 11, things like that here in the United States. But like, so, like, though it's like the pandemic, we see a movie released in 2020 or always like, like, wow, that was really successful, barring what was happening at the time or whatever. But yeah, you know, the movie came out in the summer, but then the DVD was releasing at the beginning of 2020, 22,002. It was like January ish. And I have a story. It's kind of funny that the statute of limitations on theft is.
Is passed because I believe it's like six years.
So I'm gonna use this as a. An acquaintance of mine asking for a friend. No, I. I was. In 2001, we went into a Best Buy and. And it was before. It was like beginning of December. Middle of December was before Christmas. It was before the release of the DVD. And obviously when I went into Best Buy in 2001, I went to the Star Car audio department because I wanted to, you know, get the speakers for my Buick Century and. And I want to make sure I had subwoofers and all that stuff. And so I went in that area and they had Fast and the Furious one playing on the car in dash DVD players that were on Disney display. And a buddy of mine, again, acquaintance of mine, decided that he pressed the eject button and see what would happen and the DVD popped out. So my guess is they got either sent promotional DVDs to put in for these things or they got like the shipper for the release of the dvd like weeks in advance. They were stuck out back saying, like, on sale date January 3rd or whatever, don't sell before or whatever. And as a promotional thing, they said, oh, let's put it in the DVD player. I'll put it on there so people can watch it while they're there. Well, we end up. My acquaintance of mine left the store with it and that night we were able to watch it like three weeks before the DVD came out in my house in Maine. And so that's always been stuck in my mind about. I don't think I would have ever done it for any other. It was weird at that time was that we wanted to watch this movie so much because there was nothing like it at the time that was even close. Like, there was action, there was comedy, there was racing, there was, you know, men and women, sexy men and women. It was. It was everything. It was so cool at the time. And I had this. We were scared out of our minds that someone was knocking on our door and watch. Where did you get this movie?
Come to find out. That's funny. About a year later, I ended up getting job at Best Buy, and I worked there for, like, four years. But.
But yeah, so it was just kind of funny that. That I said the impact it had on me as an adolescent, as a teenager, to. To want to be able to even risk, you know, getting in trouble with a group of friends of ours taking this movie and bringing it home so we could watch this, what, three weeks before it came out. So it's not even like I was like, oh, it's like a year, a couple years away. It was, like, literally, like, so close to being out that I might have even gotten the DVD for Christmas, you know, that year. So, like, a couple weeks later, I would have opened it on Christmas morning, But it was just so cool. And it impacted me so much as a child or as a teenager that this movies have always stuck with me. And yes, to me, as a person who loved Number One so much that, like, the first movie is always going to be what I want the franchise to always be. But then watching 8, 9, 10, and watching these movies going, they're still badass. Like, I remember their roots, and I remember them the whole thing, but, like, they're still so much fun to watch. And I think that's where I think I've always. That's where I think a lot of people have this pushback on. They want people like myself who had such a fun time going to the theaters, seeing this movie, want that over again. But in the same sense, nine movies of that, Barry.
Well, you know, would have been a
[00:35:05] Speaker B: lot spread out across a decade.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: Yeah. But like, like, nine movies of street racing and. And stealing, like, what. What would you have been able to do outside of that? I mean, like, the movies had to go in the direction they went.
[00:35:19] Speaker B: It's true. It's true. Yeah.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: If not, like, it's the same thing. I've always had a conversation with people. And as a movie and TV critic yourself, I don't want a direct adaptation. You know, I mean, I don't want, you know, Iron man based on these comics specifically, because I can just go read the comics. I want at least Someone's creative change to some certain things to make it more interesting and stuff like that. So the same thing with these movies. I think the movies, over 10 movies have to grow and have to be different because a tenth reboot or recut of the first movie probably would have maybe hate the series being like I'm done with this. And so they did have to go. But still to my. I'm puristing 41 and 2 was fun too because obviously we go to. We go to a different country and see that too of Tokyo Drift. But I said two, but three, you know what I'm talking Tokyo Drift.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: I speak the language, don't worry.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: And so like that to me, I don't know what it was. And that's. To this day I've always like, I've probably stolen packs of gum. I've probably done some other things that broken the law here. Barry. But like that one time with my group of friends was. I don't even remember who I was with. It was what we did better.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: Better to not name them because they could be.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: It was asking for a friend. I believe we're at what it was 2001. So that was. It's been 25 years. I think we're probably fine with no one coming after me here.
But. But I mean to net you, I'm not admitting to pirating these copies of these movies. So I didn't sell it. I didn't. I honestly don't know where it is. I probably got rid of it scared out of my mind. We probably like watched it two times and threw in the trash thinking like
[00:36:51] Speaker B: they're not going to catch last long. You would have not have lasted long in the Toretto crew, I'll tell you that.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: That would have been. That would have been the person being like, they're stealing DVD players.
No, it's just one of those things that like, I don't know why it always goes back to that. And so that probably had some influence in wanting to read this book too because of the fact that it was my teenage years and what, what made me love Cars, honestly, what probably sparked me watching. Wanting to watch more movies was that movie. You know, I did watch movies obviously before that and was a fan of Star wars and fan of things like that Jurassic park stuff Back to the Future. But like to this day I have memorabilia I have wanting to show my son. We watched Back to the Future a couple weekends ago. He's five and he wanted to watch them. He watched all three of them and he loves them. As that probably sparked that love for me was this first movie because it was like I could see myself in it, you know, I mean like I could actually see. I can't see myself in Star Wars, I can't see myself in Jurassic park, but I could see myself in.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: That's the thing. It is like it's a real world thing, you know, in a certain way. Certainly at the beginning. Yes, that. Yeah, yeah. Maybe not our world, maybe not, you know, Bangor, Maine back. Yeah.
It was street level.
It was characters who if you didn't recognize the world, you recognized an element of them and you could, you could sense how these people operate because they spoke like real people and they had real jobs. You know, they worked in garages.
So many of these, you know, big other blockbusters like it's always like the realm of like the fantastical or the mystical or like the bestowed upon by divine powers. Right.
You have a superpower, you're a wizard, you invented dinosaurs. But these ones, these guys are just good with cars. And I feel like everybody would probably have somebody like that in their lives.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: It's.
I think that I could be that person you mentioned the different Miles Morales. When Brian Michael Bendis crafted Miles Morales for comic books, the big thing was. And Sarah Bocelli was part of that too, but was that people could see themselves as in that Spider Man. Spider man was always white. Now he's not white. I can see myself in it. However, Spider Man's still superpowered person. We're not all superheroes. So like it's like one of those like you have to suspend something. But to me it was like I still have this crappy car that I can still go to the speed shop because there was those also back then. Like I was a couple. I used to drive by drop my son off a daycare all the time. There was one called Twin City Speed and all she sold was like mufflers and air intakes and. And you know they had the JEGS catalog and all that stuff. It was just this huge thing. And I could see myself even if I didn't have a black Honda Civic with white or green underglow, I had something that I could do something to. And so I saw myself being able to live in that culture and seeing that street racing ability and park downtown and all that stuff because of this films. And again I think that's one of the reasons why I still want to go see these movies in that theater. When the next one comes, I'm going to go see it. I don't have the theaters that often anymore. But there's something that brings me back to that, and I think there's. I'm probably not the only one, Barry. I'm like, there's probably a bunch of people who are either auto mechanics nowadays or people who are actually racing cars, who these movies were, what made them do it.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: I'm. I'm sure they are. I mean, you know, if. If my, like, Instagram algorithm is any indication, like, the. The influence that it has had on some people's life is profound.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: I mean, yours. I mean, you were able to write a book about this thing like this. There's a huge thing on that. And so, I mean, obviously we talked a lot just about Fast and Furious and things like that, and I wanted to, like, wrap this up here fairly soon. But did things change for you when reading this? Like, did you get more amped? Did you get to the point where now you're burnt out on the series? Did you. What. What mean? You have to take this and you have to watch all the movies and get. I guess you watched them all again, probably. And then you have to, like I said, look for those things, interview people, do those stuff, do the research to make this book.
Did it get you to the point where you like this even more now, knowing all this stuff and writing this book? Or is it one of those things that things didn't really change? It's just amazing that you got to write the book?
[00:40:56] Speaker B: No, no, I think the former, for sure. Like, yeah, no, I found new ways of looking at the films. I redis. I rediscovered things. I discovered things.
I feel. Yeah, as you say, like, I did watch the films, you know, at least each of them twice over the course of, you know, researching and writing. And then it was. There was a lot of, you know, going back and revisiting certain scenes and passages and stuff like that.
And. Yeah, no, I mean, I always loved the films sincerely and maybe a little ironically, but now I feel like there was a renewed spark, passion that was engendered by all this research and work that went into it on my part. So, yeah, no, I will never. Will never say never, but, like, I cannot imagine a point in my life where I would be tired of talking about them, because I do find them endlessly fascinating. And I. And, you know, I. I hope that kind of comes through in the book, because, you know, if I was reading a book about, you know, a film or any kind of piece of culture art that I was interested, I would hope that the author would be as interested, ideally, if Not a thousand times more. Because that's what I, you know, I'm not coming to it to, to tear it down.
I'm coming on it to. I'm coming at it to find renewed energy and, and purpose in it. So, yeah, so I, I can talk about them forever. Like, honestly, like, I feel if I got like a NOS energy drink in me or, or two, like, we could go like 10 hours marathon podcast session.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: Well, yeah, and you definitely can tell that because I have read, and I'm not going to point it out because I'm not that kind of person, but I have read books based on movies or, or a franchise in the past couple years. I named a couple of them that I really liked. You know, Ashley Cohen's book about, about Scream and
[00:42:48] Speaker B: the.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: Hannibal, Hannibal, Hannibal Lecter, Brian Brad Raffrey. But. And actually coming up here pretty soon, Dano Kraus wrote a book called Partially Devoured, about Night of the Living Dead. It also is sort of a memoir about him too. So it's like a. It's the movie that he. His favorite movie of all time, why he's an author, all this other stuff, why he made films. And. And it's like a mixture of his memoir, but also history of the movie itself and the history of it. And those are amazing. But I have read some in recent years that didn't strike with me about a subject that I was really passionate about. I really liked about it. And part of me goes, that's the other side of this, where someone may have seen an ability to write something that might sell well because it's about a specific subject, but someone who maybe doesn't have the passion for it at the same time. And I could be wrong on that. It could just be. Well, you know, they're just not. Not. It doesn't hit as much as your book did or something like that. But like, there is that sense of. You can tell sometimes that someone's passionate about something or someone's writing with heart because you obviously have to write a narrative here too, as well. You can't just be like, in fact, a. Is this. In fact.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like, and then this happened. And then this happened.
Oh, thanks. I really appreciate that. And I mean that. I mean, I wouldn't have taken or spent so much time on something I wasn't passionate about. Right. Like, that's, that's the whole thing that would get boring. It would get boring. It gets tedious. I'd be like, why am I doing this again? But like, for me, like, it was sure, it was like a lot of work and it took a lot of time, but it never felt like work, which is great.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: And I, I say the same thing with people. We've mentioned Star Wars, I've mentioned Marvel. There's this disdain for someone when they take a story a certain direction in this, in these mediums, whether they don't like the movies or they don't like the, the, the books or the comics or whatever it may be. And I'm like, you do realize that these people are getting hired based on their abilities to write, but also their fandom. Like, they're not hiring people that are like, don't know a single thing about Star Trek or Star wars or Marvel or Jurassic park to write these things. Like, they're people who know the stuff. And so, like, no one's going to be so excited to write the next Star wars comic book. If they are not passionate about it. They'll go on to something else. That's other duties for them to do. You know, you see the same thing with the very unknown things, like, or things that haven't been talked about a while. Ed Brisson wrote a Silverhawks comic book and it's like that no one, I forgot about Silverhawks altogether. So no one's gonna be like, I'll write a Silverhawks book unless they're super passionate about it. And so the same thing with this, it's like, I think that you have to at least say that most people who would write a book this long about this many movies in a franchise like this, you'd have to know something already about it and be passionate about wanting to write it. I think that comes across, I think you did a great job. I love the fact that welcome to the Family. It fits, you know, the, the, the family orient of, of, of the movies. I also love the fact that it's got a super long, like, actual subtitle, which is amazing because that just makes it so much more fun to actually, like, say what it is because it's true.
And the covers are, did someone, do you know who did the COVID art? It's probably in the book. I didn't see it.
[00:45:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it's, I, I mentioned him in the acknowledgments there, and I, I should know it off the top of my head, to be honest. No, no, no, it's fine, it's fine. I, I, It's a good thing I have my copy right here.
And that is no. Tim McDonough. Tim McDonough is the illustrator. He does I believe he does some work for Mondo and those guys down there with the Alamo.
And when they. When my publisher, my editor sent over the, you know, the first pass at the illustration, I was like, I was over the moon. I was thrilled. I was just like, it's exactly what I was imagining. It looks amazing. It's like explosive. It's colorful, it's fiery, it's fun, just like the movies. And I hope just like, you know, the experience of reading the book.
[00:46:44] Speaker A: And it also has.
I actually read this hybrid. Like, I listened to audiobook and read the book. I do a little bit of both because it's just sometimes I want to be able to listen to the car and stuff like that, which was really cool. And if you do listen to the audiobook, it's great. But what you miss in the audiobook, and I think they. Maybe you download, they might give you the PDF, now that I think about it, if you download it from like Libro FM or something like that, it has the images in it and stuff like that too. But like, the images that are in the middle is one of the reasons why I thought the book was. The physical copy was so much amazing as well, because. Yeah, because you get to see. See pictures behind the scenes and all that stuff.
[00:47:18] Speaker B: Yeah, this is. And those photos are never before seen, never before published.
And I would say, like, in terms like, of research, like, you know, kind of collecting those photos and, and getting permissions and everything like that was almost as. As challenging as reporting on everything else. Like, it was a whole other thing. But it turned out the designers with, with Grand Central, the publisher were amazing and it turned out so beautiful. So, yeah, I mean, you know, I'm, as I can tell that you are. I'm a physical media guy, so I. I am very proud to have delivered my own piece of physical media.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: Yeah, it's awesome. If you're a fan, I say if you're a fan of Fast and the Furious, the franchise, a whole. This is a must read because of the fact that you get so much more, a different take on someone else's perspective. You can have a conversation with your buddy, with you about the movies and things like that, but, like, this is a different perspective and different. You get more information out of it. But also, I think if you're just a fan of cinema, it's also one of those things, like if you maybe seen a few of the movies or heard about them or wanted to watch them, I think it's worth trying because of the fact that it may Give you another reason to watch the films in the first place. All of them.
It is a, an endurance thing to watch them all in a row.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:38] Speaker A: It's not like, it's not like we're sitting here going, let's talk about Back to the Future and we'll watch three movies. They're excellent. Like there is, it's, it's a long thing to get through, but you know, it's. I think if you're into cinema, into film, into movies, things like that, you might actually get something from this too. And learning more about things like that go on behind the scenes and, and what happened and how these things were happened, made and things like that, it's just, it's a fascinating way to say a multi billion dollar movies that basically almost didn't get made. And so like that's the crazy thing if you think about that and just want to, that is like to pull you into it. It's, it's worth reading because it starts off the beginning and goes towards the end. If anybody was wondering that too. It's like, it's not, you're not jumping around being like, oh, we're talking about Paul Walker. It's, it's, it's all.
[00:49:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that was kind of like a. I kind of cemented that in my, you know, research and structure at the beginning. I was like, well, kind of makes it a no brainer. Like start at the beginning and go forward. Yeah. At one point I was like, could I do something weird chronologically like they do with the movies, you know, like how like technically part three is part eight, part seven.
And I was like, could I do. So I was like, no, it's too, it's too.
[00:49:46] Speaker A: We'd all be, we'd be, I'd be so mad at you. But I could also be in like, you know, your main characters, your doms, your, your Don Vin Diesel, your Paul Walkers. Like, you could always do like we're gonna chat about Paul Walker and now and his influence in the movies. So I can understand that too. But like this was even better because it's almost like if you wanted to watch along, you can go, hey, I'm gonna watch movies 1, 2 and 3 and then read the book and then, you know, 4, you can always do that as well, which is kind of cool. So you can get that like fresh. I did rewatch 1, 2 and 3 and then I was just so involved in the book, I just wanted to read the book the rest of the way. So it's like sometimes I had to Be like, wait a second, I should probably watch that movie because I'm about to.
Like, it's one of those things for me.
[00:50:23] Speaker B: I'll take it.
[00:50:25] Speaker A: But yeah, and I think, like I said, people are going to go watch these movies, so it's good for Universal, too, because they're going to get much more streaming things and purchases of DVDs and Blu Rays and things.
[00:50:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think it's. It's beneficial for everyone.
[00:50:36] Speaker A: The last thing I wanted to ask you, really, before we wrap up is. So this book came out in November 2025, so right around Thanksgiving. And now we've been. Usually I talk to people who are like, the book's coming out or it just came out. What's that been like, what's it been like since, like, November? How this has been, like, how's it been like to be a published author about something, such a big franchise?
[00:50:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great question because it's something I've never. This is my first book. It's something I've never experienced before, you know, as like a critic and a reporter, like, for a daily newspaper. You know, I put stuff out all the time, but then it's one day in, one day out. Right. Like, it's in the trash the next day. I don't really think about it too much.
But this one is, you know, it's on shelves and it's in people's, you know.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:19] Speaker B: Yeah. So it has been interesting being on the other side of that, you know, critical promotion divide.
But the reception so far has been great.
I've, you know, I've had so many people reach out to me saying that they really enjoyed it, such as yourself and so many others in it, both in, like, the fan space and just like the general interest in Hollywood space, because I feel like, as you say, like, it's for. It's certainly like if you're a fan or you're familiar with the franchise, it helps, you know, draw you in. But I like to think it's like a good, just overall kind of blueprint for how Hollywood has operated over the past 25 years, regardless of the franchise or property.
And I've had a lot of, you know, people who, like, kind of the highest compliment is, and I've received it a couple of times is like, didn't really care about these movies, but this was an interesting book and an interesting look at behind the scenes of the industry, and that's. That means a lot.
So, yes, it's been great.
You know, I haven't heard from. From Vin himself.
But it, it has also been interesting to watch the green light for the Fast X sequel, Fast Forever, finally come to pass the other week.
And of course I will be watching that process intently and intensely.
So, yeah, I'm just, you know, thanks so much for, you know, having me on to talk about it. And I just, you know, as I said, I will never get tired of talking about these movies or about the book behind the Movies. So it's been fun. It's been great.
[00:52:54] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's one of those things. It's also like I mentioned, I mentioned three. This is the third time I mentioned Ashley Cohen. But her book about Scream was she has such a passion about Scream and this is what she needed to tell the story. And you have such a passion about Fast and Furious. You need to tell this story, but it doesn't mean that this is what you'll do next either.
But it seems like you did it well enough that if there was another series or thing that was passionate about, I'd read that one too, even if I wasn't passionate about it as well. Because I do think that you did it well enough that I love it. I have been lucky enough to read these books recently that have been really good about things that I'm also super passionate about. And the same with Ashley, with her, the scream, like Scream 7 is coming out. So it's like she could only go so far as well.
The one cool thing I would say about that one is she got the voice of Ghostface. Roger Jackson read her audiobook.
[00:53:39] Speaker B: That was a real coup. I mean, it's like pretty, pretty brilliant. And like, yeah, that, that's amazing. That's.
[00:53:45] Speaker A: I said what I wanted was that I wanted him to read the entire book in Roger Jackson's voice. But then when he actually has quotes from himself and I wanted him to read it in the Ghostface voice, I wanted him to change it. That would have been amazing. Swap roles. It would have been so good.
I had the chance of opportunity to meet Roger Jackson a couple years ago at a convention and, and one of the nicest people in the world. But when I saw that, that he was actually going to be reading the. The audiobook for the Scream, History of Scream, basically, I was like, that is amazing. I mean it would have been. It's equal Vin Diesel reading yours. But like, to me, I'm like, it would have been. It would have been amazing. But. But yeah, lucky. That's one of those things too. I even talked to him like that's like, pure. She's like, that's pure luck. That is nothing more than just a chance of timing, asking the right person and getting the opportunity. Having someone open schedule availability, like, it's just one of those things that like it. It's a perfect storm for her in that sense. And I was like, that Mike might sell her book and her audiobook together, because people be like, I want to read it, but I also want to hear Roger Jackson.
[00:54:42] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
[00:54:43] Speaker A: But. But, yeah, welcome to the family. It's available at bookstores everywhere. And if your local bookstore does not have it, tell them you want it because it's amazing. And I do believe you can get it on bookshop.org which is great because it helps support local. Local bookstores as well. But here's my biggest thing. If you want it and you can't get it anywhere by Amazon, just buy it on Amazon. Okay? It still goes back to the author. You still get credit for it. And Grand Central goes, yeah, we like Barry. We'll do more books with them. So.
[00:55:08] Speaker B: Exactly. Yes.
[00:55:09] Speaker A: I always say, like, buy if you're gonna. If you're gonna read it, buy it wherever you can get it. Support local if you can. But if you can't, just buy it, because I think that it's worthwhile. Read again. Audiobook, regular book, doesn't matter. Just you. A digital book, whatever you want to do. You know, read the book, it's worth it, and then watch the movies. Barry, thank you so much for coming on, taking time out of your day to chat with us here on the podcast. We'll definitely get you back on in the future. Maybe we'll just talk Fast and the Furious in general. We'll just break down some movies here and there, whatever. But, yeah, I really appreciate it. It was a blast talking to you, and I really thank you for taking the time.
[00:55:40] Speaker B: Oh, my pleasure. Thank you so much for having.
[00:55:47] Speaker A: What.
