The ninth core chapter of the “Fast & Furious” film series, “F9,” is scheduled to screen at the 74th Cannes Film Festival and is already blowing up the worldwide box office (via Indiewire) ahead of its US release on June 25. This may have been inconceivable in 2001.

The success of the ninth chapter is simply one more illustration of the franchise’s extraordinary durability. It’s also a great complement to the series’ main cast, whose unforgettable characters have been the movies’ fulcrum for 20 years.

Michelle Rodriguez made her screen debut in the very first installment of the “Fast and the Furious” series, along with stars like Vin Diesel and Jordana Brewster, and has since appeared in several subsequent installments.

If Rodriguez’s family had their way, she may have become a doctor. Instead, the Jersey City native who had dropped out of high school decided to pursue acting. She made her Hollywood debut in a B-movie actioner with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, and went on to establish herself as the alpha female of one of the closest families in film history.

Rodriguez became well-known as a result of the popularity of the Fast and the Furious movie series. But nearly quit when she objected to the narrative development of her character.

The movie’s writers had a completely different vision for the plot. The original script for the film was slightly different that it originally included Letty cheating on Dom with Brian, who was played by the late Paul Walker. It was basically going to be a love triangle. Michele fought against this.

Michelle claimed in an interview that she cried at the time after hearing the news and even begged the writers to stop moving forward with it. Michelle also stated that she would not play the role of a slut, in front of millions of people moreover. She was prepared to face any consequences or lawsuits at the time.

“It was more of a ‘Point Break’ idea … They just followed the format without thinking about the reality of it,” said Rodriguez. She explained, “Is it realistic for a Latin girl who’s with the alpha-est of the alpha males to cheat on him with the cute boy? I had to put my foot down.”

Rodriguez didn’t like the thought of playing a character who was a cheater in addition to not believing the narrative to be credible. She recalled giving the film’s creators an ultimatum: either the plot had to change, or she would leave the project. Fortunately, she received help from a cast member.

She told the Daily Beast in 2017: “I basically cried and said, I’m going to quit and, ‘Don’t sue me, please — I’m sorry, but I can’t do this in front of millions of people.’ My whole point in being an actress is that I thought I got to live a dream. And I don’t dream about being a slut! Do you?!”

FAST & FURIOUS 6, Michelle Rodriguez, 2013. ph: Giles Keyte/©Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Someone else backed her up. “Vin was the first one to pull me to the side while I was crying, and he just looked at me and said, ‘I got your back. Chill out and let me handle this, and you’re right — it makes me look bad anyway.’ And there you go. That was the beginning of the Letty fairytale.”

Rodriguez says she sat out the second and third movies. Letty Ortiz, however, gave fans two of their biggest surprises when the studio and filmmakers floated the idea of reuniting the gang as the franchise was revived under director Justin Lin—a shocking off-screen death in 2009’s Fast & Furious and a cathartic return from the dead in the final seconds of 2011’s Fast Five.

Diesel, in her opinion, fought to maintain the core Fast & Furious family as a unit on screen. “I was like, ‘Damn Vin—I swear to God, you and your Facebook, bro!’ It’s like a Gallup poll. He was like, this is what the people want; give it to them. That’s what I love about Vin, he’s such a gangsta. But that’s the beauty of it: The bottom line is money. The bottom line is return on investment and the bottom line is global markets. And do you know what? He proves that a multicultural cast with good money, great talent, and integrity can really shine at the box office.”

When Walker was killed on November 30, 2013, in a car accident, Diesel stepped up to represent the cast and crew’s sorrow in front of the public. The tragedy caused Rodriguez to spiral personally.

“We were just blindsided,” she said, wiping at tears. “To love somebody like that, and to be introduced to this game with somebody so genuine, who really lives it… if anyone was a voice of integrity, it was him. That motherfucker was always complaining about blue screen or any time he smelled something that wasn’t real, because he loved that world. If he was going to shoot a gun in a movie, he learned how to be a sniper. If he was going to fight in a movie, he freaking trained for six months. He was real.”

“He was a real fucking dude with a big-ass heart. Like, fuck talking about doing shit for people, I’m going to go out there and start a charity. Hands first. I love that boy so much. We weren’t thinking about anything else, man.”

After Walker passed away, Universal abruptly halted production on Furious 7 and took four months to restart after the cast and crew decided to continue in Walker’s honor. Furious 7 was finished under James Wan’s direction with the aid of Walker’s brothers, Caleb and Cody Walker, and has a reworked finale that tenderly honors their deceased brother.

“I was really worried that it would be a cover-up, that it wouldn’t be a legacy, that it would be a machine thing—‘What’s next, what’s next?’” said Rodriguez. “Man, [Universal] surprised me with their respect. They were human. They had heart. And they really gave a shit. Everybody involved, down to catering. They all put so much heart into it and I’m proud. I think he would be.”

Nobody’s yet talking about the future of Fast & Furious. Since the beginning of her career, Rodriguez has been writing, but she hasn’t been able to complete a screenplay. Making her own initiatives and finally venturing outside of her comfort zone are priorities after a turbulent few years.

“It’s been 14 years since I’ve been the lead in a movie, since I’ve carried a movie on my own,” she said. “I’ve just been so shocked by life in the last two years. I’m going to open up. I’ve kind of made myself a carcass of safety and I’ve protected myself against playing the ‘girlfriend’ or ‘the girl who gets raped and THEN gets empowered,’ ‘the girl who gets empowered and then dies’… they’re always taking the power away from the women.”

“I’ve decided to open my mind to carrying something on my own, to see if I can pull it off, because I haven’t done it since Girlfight,” she continued. “Maybe dive into comedy a bit and try some new shit. Because I’ve kind of closed myself off to the world out of fear of being taken down, or stereotyped. And in the process, I’ve stereotyped myself.”

“But I have faith.”

A crew of thieves is seen targeting a truck full of electronics in the opening scene of the original movie, which underwent other script revisions. The truck driver is shot with a tranquilizer gun by one of the robbers in order to knock him out so they can steal the goods. However, a shotgun was specified in the original script. The producers changed the prop to the tamer tranquilizer gun after the cast and crew expressed their concern that the scene would depict the racing community as violent criminals.

In addition to nearly a dozen action movies, a TV series, video games, live performances, and even theme park attractions, the Fast & Furious franchise has enjoyed tremendous success. This achievement is largely the result of outspoken cast members who raised concerns when necessary and receptive writers and directors who listened. The first movie might not have sparked an entire franchise if it weren’t for the cast members’ passion for their characters.