Jean-Claude Van Damme Claims Vin Diesel Didn't Want Him Joining the FAST AND FURIOUS Franchise

Jean-Claude Van Damme wanted in on the Fast and Furious film franchise, and apparently, some of the producers wanted him as well at some point, but according to the action star, Vin Diesel was not interested in bringing him into the franchise.

The Telegraph reported on this saying: “Van Damme has also missed out on a role in another mega-franchises. ‘They want me in Fast and Furious,‘ he says. And what a bit of casting that would be. But Vin Diesel said, ‘No, I don’t want him.'”

There’s no word on what film in the franchise that was, but it was around the time that the actor got involved with The Expendables 2. He played the villain in the 2012 movie, which means he must have been in talks for either Fast Five or Fast & Furious 6.

Regardless, Diesel just didn’t want Van Damme to be a part of it. There’s no reason as to why, but with that film franchise the way it is, Van Damme would’ve fit right in with the over-the-top insanity of it all.

Van Damme talked about the kind of movies being made these days saying: “People have been driving Tesla on the screen. Beautiful, perfect CGI. And maybe some people want to go back to the stick shift for a while. Some people. You know what I’m saying as a metaphor? I’m a stick shift.”

And, from here on out, I’m just going to think of Jean-Claude Van Damme as a stick shift.