I don’t know about you, but just about every time I watch one of the Fast and Furious movies, I find myself thinking “How on Earth did they come up with that idea?” That was especially true when I saw The Fate of the Furious for the first time and witnessed that wild submarine fight. Now, I have an answer to the above question in relation to this mind-boggling aforementioned scene, because screenwriter Chris Morgan broke down how he came up with it.
Intercut with the absolutely legendary F&F plotline involving Jason Statham saving a baby on a plane, Fate of the Furious’ climax features the entire family driving on the ice trying to stop Charlize Theron’s villain and her submarine. Truly – and I say this with deep love – the moment is bonkers and totally unique in comparison to the big set pieces to come before it.
While speaking to THR about his film on the 2024 movie schedule, Red One, Chris Morgan also talked about how he writes his action, and used the eighth Fast and Furious film as an example, saying:
On Fast 8 [The Fate of the Furious], a scene appeared in my head where you hear two guys’ voices, and they’re like, ‘Man, you’ve got to go faster. You better go faster.’ You’re then on a blue sky, and you pan down to see this endless vista of just ice. And then there’s a little car that’s racing along with nobody chasing it. There’s nothing. But the voices are still panicked, ‘Man, you’ve got to go faster. You’ve got to go faster.’ And then, from under the ice, boom, a submarine comes up and starts chasing it. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome.’ So once I had that, I went to Universal and said, ‘Here’s your moment.’ And they were like, ‘Let’s do it.’
As the writer for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious and Hobbs & Shaw, Morgan is no stranger to creating an absolutely wild action sequence.
I remember watching Fast Five and that legendary heist scene and witnessing that Furious 7 moment that involved parachuting cars, among others, and being kind of mind-blown. The action moments are super creative, honestly, and not something I could have ever thought of. So, it’s cool to get some insight into how Morgan came up with them.
Right before giving his explanation for how he wrote The Fate of the Furious, Mogan addressed how he approached writing generally. Explaining that he can’t just sit down and type words onto a page, the screenwriter said:
I typically don’t sit down with just the blank page and then hope inspiration and magic happens. I’m a pretty structured guy. I tend to research and outline very heavily.
While he didn’t describe the research that went into Fast 8, it was clear that he had a vision before he started writing.
The screenwriter then said that every scene he writes has to tie into the character’s story, it can’t just look cool for cool’s sake, explaining:
For movies, you always start with your character. What is the hurdle they need to overcome, and what is the lesson that they need to learn? That’s the core. If you don’t have that, then you have literally nothing, no matter how cool things look.
In the case of The Fate of the Furious, one of the primary hurdles Dom is overcoming is the idea of being a dad and working to save his child (who is said baby on the plane with Jason Statham). Vin Diesel and co. are also trying to take down Theron, who had done all of them wrong. So, amid the very cool ice submarine fight, it is pretty clear why the family is willing to put their lives on the line while literally on ice.
So, with all this in mind, you can go back and watch The Fate of the Furious with a Peacock subscription. Then, make sure to keep an eye out for more updates on the next installment in this franchise, as Fast and Furious 11 is scheduled to come out in 2026.
