2 of the Biggest Fast & Furious Stars Didn't Even Know How to Drive Before the Movies

These days, it's probably fair to say that you wouldn't necessarily have to be a good driver to star in a Fast & Furious film. The action spectacles that are the latter-day films in the series rely so much on great work from stunt performers and visual effects teams that you could probably just sit behind the wheel, look intense, and let the crew take care of the rest.

That wasn't always the case, though, and it turns out that two of the biggest stars in the whole franchise, who've been there from the beginning, almost didn't get their parts because they didn't have drivers licenses.

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Back in 2013, while promoting Fast & Furious 6, series star Jordana Brewster, who plays Mia Toretto, revealed to VH1 that she actually had to get a license in order to land her role for the first movie. A native New Yorker, Brewster grew up getting around on public transportation and just never bothered to get a license, which meant she had to quickly take a driving test and ace it if she wanted to play Dominic Toretto's sister.

Jordana Brewster attends the TIAH 5th Anniversary Soiree at Private Residence on August 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. ; Michelle Rodriguez attends the amfAR gala Venezia 2023 presented The Red Sea International Film Festival on September 03, 2023 in Venice, Italy. Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images; Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival)

"There was a ticking clock," Brewster said. "If I didn't get my license I wasn't going to be able to get insured for the movie. Within a week of taking my driving test, we were flown to Las Vegas for this special driving class. So I had to pass or I wouldn't have been in the movie."

Once she got her license, though, Brewster didn't look back. She once confessed to Entertainment Tonight that she's "a little speed demon," to the point that she even chides her husband when he slows down at traffic signals. Still, she's not quite as well-versed behind the wheel as Mia, as she confessed in the same VH1 interview that she still can't drive a manual transmission.

In the same Entertainment Tonight interview back in 2013, co-star Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Letty Ortiz, also confessed to having an issue with speeding, something she blamed on her late arrival to driving.

"I got such a bad record with speeding 'cause I got my license for Fast and Furious," Rodriguez said. "After 11 points on your license, you're like, 'Yo, where's that Prius at? I'm dropping this M3 somewhere.'"

So if you're out there and you're struggling to learn to drive, even if you're learning later in life, just know that two stars from a film series predicated on good driving had to go through the same thing.

Stream Fast X on Peacock now.