Charlize Theron and Jason Statham come to Beijing to promote The Fate of the Furious, the eighth installment in the car-racing cinematic franchise The Fast and the Furious, which is to be premiered simultaneously in China and the United States. (Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily)
Neal H. Moritz, the producer of the franchise since the beginning, says the new film "was really challenging because the bar was set so high by seven (Furious 7)".
"The audience has huge expectations. Honestly, we feel the responsibility to give them something satisfying."
He says there was once debate on whether to end the series with Furious 7, which had a happy ending, in that the multiracial street racing elites led by Dominic Toretto (commonly known as "Dom" who is played by American actor Vin Diesel), get reunited.
For the new film, Chris Morgan, the screenplay writer of the franchise since the third installment, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, says he wanted something that the audience of the franchise had not experienced.
So, he came up with the idea of prolonging the story: Dom is lured into crime and turns his back on the racing family.
