Movie Trivia

The heliport scenes were shot on the roof of the Miami Herald.

The opening street race zooms past the American Airlines Arena, home of the NBA's Miami Heat, located on Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida.

The cars Brain races against at the beginning are the same models that won the major races in The Fast and the Furious (2001) and they reach the bridge in reverse order of their appearance in the first movie. The stunt crew actually reused some of the stunt cars from the original (they were, of course, modified to resemble the cars in the sequel).

Ja Rule was in negotiations for the film, but turned it down to pursue other film projects.

The scene near the end of the movie where the blue car is driven onto the boat was filmed at Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne. A new fishing pier was built by the movie crew to provide the ramp and a car was prepared with the engine and all fuel and brake lines removed and the vehicle steam cleaned so no oil or gas would pollute Biscayne Bay. The plan was to film the shot several times but the first one went so well that the additional takes were cancelled.

While this movie was filming on one side of Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne, Bad Boys II (2003) was filming scenes on the other side of the park.

The first car you see Paul Walker drive in the movie, is in fact his own racing car in real life. He has a love for street racing. Also he personally handpicked all of the racing cars in the movie.

The Yellow Dodge Viper driven by one of the goons was the first of the new shape "production" Dodge Vipers, Universal pictures got hold of the first four of these cars to use for filming on the understanding that none of them would be damaged, this is why we don't see it crash in the actual film.

Most of the cars license plates say "Year One" on them.

Most of the cars were heavily reinforced with roll cages for the bridge jump. However, the roll cage would have been all too obvious in the convertible S2000. So, the stunt crew rigged up a remote control version for the jump with a dummy in the driver's seat.

The part where the Corvette crashes into the Mustang on the freeway was not planned. Yet the stuntman walked away unscathed. Some parts of the ending were not scripted either, so the actors just improvised.

Cameo: [Michael Thomas Dunn] the indie filmmaker makes an appearance as a street racer in the warehouse scene (driving a modified PT Cruiser).

Neal H. Moritz's black Ferrari Spyder is the only car to appear in both Fast and Furious movies. In this movie it is parked at Verone's mansion.

Orange Julius's RX-7 was originally one of the cars that doubled as Dominic Toretto's red RX-7 in the first film.

Before production of the film began, Devon Aoki did not have a driver's license or any driving experience.

The yellow Dodge Vipers loaned to the production team were originally colored red. They were repainted red before they were returned.

So much neon lighting was used in the cars that a technical specialist whose expertise was in shooting neon on film was kept on set at all times.

Slap Jack's Toyota Supra was modified from the remaining copies of the orange Supra driven by Brian O'Conner in the first film. To make the car stand out from the rest, the production team designed a lexan panel on the center of the hood that made the engine visible while letting hot air out at the same time. To save the production staff thousands of dollars, the engine of the "hero" car (unit used mainly for photography, not for stunts) was photographed and sent to a local printing press in Miami, FL, where the image was blown up to actual size. The engine pictures were placed directly below the lexan panels of the stunt cars.

Brian O'Conner's Nissan Skyline sustained a ruptured oil pan and severe damage on all four rims from the bridge jump, but in a matter of hours, the car was in good running condition with the parts replaced.

The license plate of Rome's Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder reads "H8ter".

The Saleen Mustang that crashes in the highway scene is not an actual Saleen Mustang. It is a V6 Mustang modified with a Saleen body kit.

Universal Studios had two different scripts commissioned. The first script featured Vin Diesel's character while the second script did not in case he decided not to return.

Cameo: ['Neal Moritz'] the producer appears as one of the swerving cops.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII driven by Paul Walker is not available in the USA, the cars used were actually current US models, modified to look like the Evo VII. All mods done by EP Industries in El Segundo, CA.

The complex used as Verone's mansion was formerly owned by Sylvester Stallone.

The Nissan Skyline driven by Paul Walker was originally equipped with an all wheel drive system. However, it was converted to rear wheel drive to make the car's maneuvers appear more dramatic. And to allow for drifting, an All-wheel car doesn't drift very well.

Rap artist Redman was seriously considered for the character of Tej. But due to schedule conflicts, the part was given to Ludacris.

The Liz-Stick Red Saleen that was parked in front of Verone's was bought by a collector and is now parked in Farmington, New Mexico.

Suki's car was a Honda S2000 with a custom pink paint scheme.

Rosa Blasi was considered for the role of Monica Fuentes.

The rear wing on Brian O'Conner's Nissan Skyline was made entirely of carbon fiber and cost $2000.

When Brian wins the the first race, he powerslides toward the crowd. Paul Walker actually performed this stunt himself, among many other in this film and the prequel, as he is a big fan of street race and a good driver.