SS: As a technical adviser, what exactly did you do for Universal?
TH: Contrary to popular belief, I did not have any say in how the cars were portrayed; that's what their art department was responsible for which was also the same staff that was used on the first two films. Justin and I revised the script and worked to fill in the gaps with as much detail as possible. He worked on character development while I worked on the cars. I chose the cars to be used and they asked me to think of dream drift sequences. I trained the actors on the world of drifting, how to act, what not to do, what not to say, Japanese culture, street racing, and I had them watch my DVDs as reference. We trained them with the cars to get them used to driving them the right way. I think I had it easier than the first two technical advisers in that they "oiled the machine," so to speak, so the battles I faced with Universal they were familiar with already. I was the go-to guy at the end to make sure everything went on par. If a car came to me with a paint job I wasn't happy with, I would argue with Justin and the next day it would come back repainted. I think this the best I could have done considering the politics, budget and demographics.
SS: Which pro drifters were used in the making of the film? Was any of their stunt driving digitally enhanced later?
TH: Justin and I both wanted to bring as much authenticity as possible to the movie so we used professional drifters-guys like Rhys Millen, Tanner Foust, Rich Rutherford, Sam Hubinette, Calvin Wan and Alex Pfeiffer; and all real racers to perform realistic stunts; not even Universal's stunt drivers could do it. We extended each drift sequence with little cuts to show that the car was drifting without CG, which was a big enemy of ours and was only used in specific scenes in Japan for which we were denied permits. That scene where you see the Z drifting all the way up the parking garage-that was all real. It was shot twice; once on rails (which didn't come out quite right) and once with Rhys. When Rhys did it, it was shot slower on 35mm film, but we sped it up ever so slightly. That's the magic of Hollywood.
SS: So it would be safe to assume that like the drifters used to perform the stunts, the cars also had to be authentic.
TH: All the cars we built had to drift; I was adamant about that. All the twin-turbo Zs, the Evos were converted to rear-wheel drive by Rhys and his crew and the Mustang with the single turbo RB26 could drift. The way Justin knew I was comfortable with each car wasn't by any lingo I used but just by one simple phrase: That's lame. It was the lame factor, a key word. "Why?" Because it's lame. We decided a lot of stuff based on that sentence. We shipped each car independently and had no support from Nissan.
SS: After seeing the movie, are you happy with the way it came out?
TH: As a car movie, I think that I did the best that I could. Personally, I enjoyed making it more than the end result. I've made lifelong friends and have a new respect for how movies are made. I realize how hard it is to capture a shot that portrays emotion, that gives respect to the cars. Our movie was made by good people from all walks of life that in earnest really tried to learn about our tuning culture. Half the crew came out to D1 to support us and to see what's going on. The movie allowed us to explain drifting and the tuning culture with respect to the cars this time. The cars were really the stars this time.
SS: What was the craziest thing that happened on set?
TH: I don't know if I'm allowed to say but there's a rumor saying that some of action stars loved drifting so much that they stole a car on set and went on the back lot but the car never came back in the morning. But that's just a rumor (laughs).