5. Vin Diesel's Tokyo Drift Car Was Built On A Reality Show
Dominic Torrero wasn't meant to be in Tokyo Drift. In fact Diesel had been out of the series after the first film, and only got called back because the third instalment had such poor test screenings. Universal asked him back as like a personal favour to them, hoping it would boost their box office returns. It ended up being a pretty cool moment, and served to connect the seemingly unrelated sequel to the rest of the films, whilst also mucking up the timeline so every other film was set before Tokyo Drift...until the new one, which is set after. That's the sort of confusing continuity you expect from, like, novels. Novels about cars. Diesel wound up agreeing to make the brief appearance at the very end of Tokyo Drift on two conditions: one, Universal would ceded the rights to the Chronicles Of Riddick series to him, so that he could make the third film independently. Which is sort of a shame, because that film sucked, but whatever. The other is that he's get a sweet ride. Which he did, with Dom driving Hammer, a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner whose construction was followed on the TLC series Rides, and the featured in Hot Rod Magazine. The cameo was a last minute re-shoot after primary filming was completed, and cast at the suggestion of Hot Rod Magazine's editor. So if you were into your cars, you'd've seen some serious spoilers. Not the car type, the movie-ending-ruining type.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
