Not only did one of the most successful film series of all time celebrate its debut in 2001 with “The Fast And The Furious”, the film also fueled the street racing and tuning scene, which reached unimaginable proportions after the turn of the millennium. The underbody lighting, the monitors in the headrests and the chrome rims experienced a real flourishing, but that did not last forever. And so the series around Dominic Toretto and Co. express itself again.
Over time, it evolved in a direction that not all early fans liked – away from mechanics who finance their cars through quarter-mile races, to virtually indestructible superheroes. When it comes to the series’ roots, a “Fast & Furious” series regular could now overtake Vin Diesel and Co….
… because Of all things Sung Kang will be the legendary manga and anime “Initial D”. Live action version to adjust. Kang has been part of Dominic Toretto’s “family” as Han since “The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift” and has become a real crowd favorite over the years – not least because of the big return of his long-thought-deceased character. Now he sits in the director’s chair to let the tapes smoke.
This is “Initial D”
The story revolves around 18-year-old Takumi Fujiwara, who helps out in his father’s tofu business and delivers every morning to a hotel on Mount Akina. He will soon become one with his mobile vehicle, a Toyota AE86. And a real winner behind the wheel.
The teenager still has no interest in street racing – so he reluctantly enters a duel with Keisuke Takahashi, which he ultimately wins. As Takahashi insists on revenge, Fujiwara decides to get involved again – so that the case is finally over and he can return to his daily life as a tofu delivery boy. But racing fever has long had him in its grip…
“Initial D” produced a total of 48 manga issues between 1995 and 2013 and also conquered TV screens starting in the late 90s. While there was a race in the anime series format for five seasons and there was also an anime movie, one was founded in 2005 Live-action adaptation – which you can currently stream on Netflix!
And Sung Kang is following in great footsteps with his film: after all, the first version was directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, the legendary directing duo behind the award-winning ‘Infernal Affairs’ trilogy, which once formed the basis for Martin Scorsese’s mafia masterpiece “Departed – Among Enemies”.
The opposite By the way, Kang revealed that the world-famous Porsche tuner RWB is working on a new AE86 especially for the film. It is also the ideal opportunity for him to indulge his passion for cars, drifting and the like.
As a director, he wants to give opportunities to actors who face the same problems as he once did. Overall, it was “time for him to get behind the camera and create something.” Kang recently made his feature film debut with the horror-comedy “Shaky Shivers.” This currently doesn’t have a German launch date, but at least there’s a trailer: