Rob Cohen's nearly 40 years in Hollywood have been filled with ups and downs. He started off as a script reader for Universal, his big break was discovering the screenplay to eventual 1973 Best Picture Winner "The Sting." His immersion into producing during the late 70s was a little more problematic ("The Wiz" and "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars" & "Motor Kings.") it wasn't until he set his sights on directing that Cohen fully immersed himself into the Hollywood conversation, disregarding "Dragonheart" and "Daylight," he eventually made "The Fast and the Furious" which had unknowns Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez taking America by storm and forever changing blockbuster landscape. Cohen was, more or less, the driving force behind that vision, creating the characters and shaping the setting, but ever since then, and 7 sequels later in that franchise, he hasn't taken part in any of the success of that franchise except for the fact that the characters he created are probably still earning him copyright paychecks with every sequel released.
Speaking to Screen Crush, while promoting his latest film "Hurricane Heist," Cohen looked back on how the Fast and the Furious has evolved over the years:
"The franchise went from a Los Angeles story built around a family of multicultural brothers and sisters to what I’ll call “pure spectacle.” The beauty is that the audience has ridden along with it for these 18 years. I’m very proud that the characters I created in 2001 are still in the lexicon. There‘s still a Dominic Toretto appearing every two years, or a Mia Toretto, or a Letty. It had to evolve, and it evolved in a way that was ultra-worldwide commercial. And the heartbeat of it is: We live in a world with no gravity, cars can do anything. They can burst out of the nose of airplanes. People can jump across freeways. They can take down helicopters. It’s like, “Okay, anything for the spectacle. They spend $350 million on these movies, so they’ve got the money to pull this stuff off. And the audience is eating it up. The last one still did $1.25 billion. For my kids’ college fund, I’m very happy that it’s had this longevity. I started out to do a different thing, but the thing that I did implant this world and these characters deeply in that audience. And they’re still coming for a hit of it. And most of the time when you go on the internet and [read] “Which was the best Fast & Furious?” It’s almost always mine."
I'm not sure yours was the best Rob, but it started the trend. I rather think the franchise went a whole notch higher in quality when Dwayne Johnson came into the equation. In fact, pound for pound, I still maintain that "Fast Five" is the best movie of the eight released. It's not even close. The Rio setting, the fact that it was a heist, it introduced us to The Rock's Hobbs and also having, by far, the best direction, courtesy of Justin Lin, of any film in the franchise. Yeah, "Fast Five" rocked and even
The obvious question next question to ask Cohen would be if he would ever want to come back and direct another Fast and the Furious film, his answer:
"I always wished Universal would come back to me to direct the last one. If they ever make a last one. If Comcast’s Board of Directors ever allows them to end the goose that laid the golden egg."
Fair enough, but, at this point in time, Cohen's directorial style is far removed from the hip and stylish F&F films that have been released since "Fast Five." As much as he started the franchise, it would be an odd choice to have him direct any of these upcoming sequels. Cohen has been in a major slump since directing Vin Diesel in "xXx" back in 2002, having followed that box-office success with "Stealth," "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," "Alex Cross," and "The Boy Next Door," the latter, starring Jennifer Lopez as a woman stalked by a younger romantic fling, being the worst of the lot. He now has "Hurricane Heist," which, quite frankly, doesn't look like it'll break off his 16-year streak of bad movies.
"The Hurricane Heist" opens in theaters this Friday, March 9.