An urban street race gone bad in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS
© 2001 Universal Pictures

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Diesel not taking on FAST AND FURIOUS 2

Vin Diesel and director Rob Cohen, both working on the action/spy flick XXX, have decided not to return to the franchise of their last surprise triumph, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS. Diesel has decided not to be in FAST AND THE FURIOUS 2, and because he's previously stated he'd only be interested if Diesel was in it, director Cohen has veered off as well.

Paul Walker, who played the cop role in the FURIOUS will have the sequel center on his character, now that he's the sole big name returning for the second go-around. This time the action happens in Miami, where now ex-cop Walker tries to rebuild his career after the events of FURIOUS destroyed him. Shooting starts in October.

Said Universal Chairman Stacey Snider to VARIETY, ""We feel the brand of this film is attitude, cars and hip casting and that it is not dependent on star casting. We always allocate resources to extend brands, but this wasn't really on my creative radar because it's so hard to create sequels that are better than the originals. You always expect a torturous development process, but [screenwriters] [Michael] Brandt and [Derek] Haas turned in a bang-up first draft that provides a great intro for Paul. ... They wrote modular stories, one that could have gone with Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and one without him."

Diesel is currently planning to star in the PITCH BLACK sequel THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK.