Development Plans to make a
sequel came about after the box office success of
The Fast and the Furious,
John Singleton had seen the first film and was awed by it, saying: "When I saw
The Fast and the Furious, I was like, 'Damn, why didn't I think of that?' Growing up in
South Central L.A., we had street races all the time." Singleton's rave reaction of the film as well as the culture of
street racing in general influenced his decision to direct the sequel. The director also claimed that the concept of street racing could be something young audiences can relate to. There were two
film treatments submitted early on, one of which did not involve
Vin Diesel's character in the event the actor would not return for the sequel. Singleton credited
Top Gun as a major influence for the film, particularly with regard to the action sequences.
Pre-production returned as
Brian O'Conner in
2 Fast 2 Furious. Instead of portraying Jim Street in
S.W.A.T.,
Paul Walker would reprise his role as
Brian O'Conner from the first film. Vin Diesel was offered $25 million to return in the sequel as
Dominic Toretto. However, Diesel reflected on his decision in a July 2014 report from
Uproxx, saying: "I would've said, 'Don't walk away from it just because the script sucked in
2 Fast 2 Furious because there's an obligation to the audience to fight, no matter what, to make that film as good as possible.' ... I might have had a little bit more patience or belief in the long-term of it."
Rob Cohen, who had just directed Diesel in
XXX, said he would only take part in the sequel if Diesel was in it, so was no longer involved once Diesel dropped out.
Paul Walker, who had just finished
Timeline at the time, reprised his role in the second picture as
Brian O'Conner.
Tyrese Gibson, then known
mononymously as Tyrese, also became a part of the cast having previously acted in Singleton's
Baby Boy, which was the singer's feature film acting debut; he portrayed
Roman Pearce.
Ja Rule, another prominent rap artist who appeared in
The Fast and the Furious as Edwin, was originally tapped to reprise his role. Ja Rule was offered $500,000 for the role, which was more than what he had been paid to appear in
The Fast and the Furious, $15,000. According to Singleton, "Ja got too big for himself. He turned it down. He turned down a half a million dollars. ... He was acting like he was too big to be in the sequel. He wouldn't return calls." Ja Rule later stated in an interview in 2021 that he was already obligated to go on tour at the time after Diesel and Cohen both declined to be in the movie. Ja Rule had to make the decision: to take the half a million dollars for the second Fast and Furious film or thirteen to fourteen million dollars on tour. The character of
Tej Parker was then created, at first with
Redman in mind, however, when Redman also had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with his own show
Method & Red, the director then hired
Ludacris as a substitute. Additional cast also included
Cole Hauser as key villain Carter Verone, who appeared in Singleton's
Higher Learning;
Eva Mendes as undercover agent
Monica Fuentes; and
Devon Aoki as
Suki, the sole female driver in the film. Filming was done mostly in various parts of
South Florida such as
Miami Beach,
Seven Mile Bridge, and Homestead Air Reserve Base. Hauser's character's mansion was shot in
Coral Gables, in a house owned by
Sylvester Stallone. A
car enthusiast himself, Aoki did not have a driver's license or any driving experience prior to the film's production, and took driving lessons during filming; she drove a pink 2001
Honda S2000 AP1 in the film. Gibson drove a convertible
Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS Spyder, while
Michael Ealy drove a
Toyota Supra Turbo MkIV model JZA80 that had been used by Walker in
The Fast and the Furious.
Music The musical score was composed by
David Arnold. The soundtrack was released on May 27, 2003, on
Def Jam Recordings, the same record label that Ludacris was signed to. ==Release==