Joseph Gordon-Levitt would have been the star of The Quick and the Livid: Tokyo Drift had director Justin Lin gotten his method. After offers for Vin Diesel or Paul Walker to steer the third movie within the Quick & Livid franchise did not come collectively, the collection pivoted to give attention to Sean Boswell, an American teenager in Japan who learns the best way to drift.
Lucas Black was solid within the lead function, however he was not the unique alternative, it seems. As revealed by Barry Hertz’s new guide “Welcome To The Household”, Lin had his eyes on Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play Sean in Tokyo Drift. This was a part of a plan to make Sean half-Japanese (Gordon-Levitt has by no means claimed to have Asian ancestry, for the file).
The director and the younger actor met concerning the chance, assembly within the enhancing room of Annapolis so Lin may give him a glimpse at his work. The casting seemingly would have come to fruition if not for Common. In response to Hertz’s guide, the studio was nervous about his skill to be a “big-screen main man,” noting that he was higher identified for TV and impartial movies.
It was after Common’s issues that Black was solid as Sean, after Channing Tatum’s failed audition, leaving Gordon-Levitt and not using a function. He is but to snag a job in any future installments of the franchise, regardless of Lin directing a number of of them, whereas Black reprised his function years after Tokyo Drift in Livid 7 and F9.
Whereas Gordon-Levitt is the larger star these days, Common’s hesitancy about making him the lead of Tokyo Drift is considerably comprehensible. He was only some years faraway from enjoying a significant function on the sitcom third Rock from the Solar. And whereas he did 10 Issues I Hate About You and Disney’s Treasure Planet, he was nonetheless removed from a family title.
Black was in a barely higher place career-wise. He’d simply made Friday Night time Lights (the film, not the TV present) and was seen as a rising expertise. Although Common wished to maintain prices down on Tokyo Drift and wasn’t certain if it could be a hit, casting somebody like him made sense.
Nonetheless, it is intriguing to think about what Tokyo Drift would have regarded like with Gordon-Levitt within the lead. He may have accomplished a greater job of creating Sean a memorable character, making him extra relatable, delivering traces strongly, and enhancing his total persona.
The half-Japanese nature of the function (which was dropped after Black’s casting) additionally would have been helpful. Relatively than Sean being a kind of “white savior” who turns into the very best drifter as a complete outsider of the tradition answerable for making it standard, there may’ve been a component of him embracing this a part of his lineage.
There is not any assure that The Quick and the Livid: Tokyo Drift could be considerably higher, or worse, if Joseph Gordon-Levitt had performed Sean Boswell. However, there’s a probability the film may have popped much more, maybe paving the way in which for the character to play a bigger function within the installments that adopted.
- Launch Date
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June 16, 2006
- Runtime
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104 minutes
- Writers
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Chris Morgan
- Producers
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Neal H. Moritz
