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Why Fast X Composer Brian Tyler Compares Long-Running Fast Saga to Star Wars
"The weight of the of the films became more and more score-heavy and thematic."
With the exception of four installments, Brian Tyler has scored the music for every single Fast & Furious movie since 2006's Tokyo Drift.
However, it is worth noting that his connection to the high-octane franchise goes all the way back to the 2001 original, which "licensed" a portion of his original work "into the movie," Tyler reveals to SYFY WIRE over a half-hour phone conversation about his work on the Fast Saga's latest installment, Fast X.
Fast X composer compares Fast Saga to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars
Once director Justin Lin came on for the third film, though, the trajectory of the series famously began to change. What began as a tale of rugged street racers trying to detect a federal agent in their midst ballooned into a globe-trotting secret agent saga.
"The further you go back it's more about racing for pink slips and is all about frenetic action and cool," the composer explains. "And those things are certainly there, but as time went on, it became more and more dramatic and became — in a sense — this kind of universe of Fast & Furious with characters and backgrounds and family and character arcs and betrayals ... To be on the tenth [film] right now, clearly it’s created a giant universe and it’s very specific."
Even as the 22-year-old story begins to wind down in Fast X, more faces are being added to the ever-growing ensemble including Jason Momoa (Dante Reyes), Rita Moreno (Dom and Mia's grandmother), Brie Larson (Mr. Nobody's daughter, Tess), and Alan Ritchson (acting director of the Agency, Aimes).
Still, who better to manage this massive musical mythos than the man who's been part of the production pit crew for over two decades?
"The weight of the films became more and more score-heavy and thematic," Tyler concludes. "And now, when I look at my theme board for when I started [on the franchise], it’s massive. There’s more main characters that have more screen time than you would have like in a Lord of the Rings [film]. It’s almost like a Star Wars [movie] ... When these people come onscreen, I am interplaying between themes in a way that is almost never seen; the dramatic character arcs of all these people."
Fast X is currently playing in theaters or available to rent/purchase on digital platforms like Vudu and Apple TV. Be sure to check back with us for regular updates on the movie's Peacock debut and physical media bonus features.
RELATED: The Fast and the Furious: Remembering How the Fast Saga Earned Its Pop Culture Street Cred
A Hobbs-fronted adventure (featuring the return of Dwayne Johnson's fan favorite DSS agent) will bridge the narrative gap between Fast X and Fast 11 (aka Fast X: Part II). The latter is scheduled to premiere in April 2025, which means we can probably expect the Hobbs spinoff to drop sometime within the next year-and-a-half.
Relive part of the Fast Saga on Peacock with The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), and Furious 7 (2015).
