I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fast and Furious franchise is undeniably one of the greatest works of art in modern cultural history.

The films are a gripping portrayal of family, love, betrayal, revenge… and absolutely insane stunts involving fast cars and, in the case of the most recent film, a Russian nuclear submarine.

While the cast of the franchise — including big names like Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and the late Paul Walker — deservedly attract most of the praise for their onscreen chemistry and charm, it’s the legends behind the wheel pulling off hectic car chase scenes that really make the Fast and Furious films… fast and furious.

These are legends like Debbie Evans, who has been part of the series since it launched in 2001. Evans was kind enough to sit down with Junkee for a chat about the fast and terrifying world of stunt driving.

Follow Your Hectic Dreams

Evans is one of the world’s most prolific stunt drivers. She’s performed in over 200 films including The Matrix Reloaded, Superman Returns, Pineapple Express and, of course, the Fast and Furious franchise. She’s also featured in huge TV shows like The O.C. and CSI.

One of her most iconic scenes is the famous motorcycle chase from The Matrix Reloaded.

It’s fitting that it’s one of her best known stunts since Evans got her start in motorsports riding motorbikes at the age of six and entered her first race when she was just nine.

“I always loved trials, because of the obstacles,” Evans says. “You could just go off and pick one obstacle and just try and conquer it and work, work, work and get it done. I was doing really well, and then Yamaha gave me a factory sponsored ride when I was 15.”

While sponsored by Yamaha, Evans raced in the national competition and was the only woman in the league. But despite the huge gender skew she says she didn’t experience any kind of discrimination.

“You know, ’cause I grew up with the boys and I would always compare myself to the best of the best and whoever was in my class who was better than me, that was my goal,” she explained. “And I didn’t see gender. I was treated pretty fairly amongst the guys, because I respected them, they respected me.”

But school was a different kettle of fish.

“At school I would get teased because I loved sports. I was riding a motorcycle. Girls weren’t supposed to do sports back then. I didn’t listen to any of them, because I knew what was in my heart, and I knew… I just believed that this was how I was made.”

Her experiences have made her want to encourage other young people to stick with their passions too. “I believe that everybody has a gift, and some people have more than one,” she says. “It’s your passion. It’s what really makes you feel important and feel like you’re using what you’ve been given. There’s no reason why you can’t make that work to make a living somehow. So many people listen to what others say and they don’t follow their dream.”

DRIVING UNDER A FUCKING TRUCK

Evans built up a big national profile as one of the only female motorcycle riders in the 1970s and it wasn’t long before she was tapped to do stunts. Her first film was 1977’s Death Sport featuring David Carradine.

She said the process of stunt driving was similar to racing motorcycle trials.

“It’s a very controlled environment, but you have obstacles everywhere. The C-stands, the cameras, other people, things that are happening, and you can walk it… I still do that. I’ll walk something and then I’ll run it so I can see what I’m going to see at moving speed. I just train my brain. I get it into my brain, and then I shut my eyes before I’m going to do it, and if I can see it happening, I know I’m good to go.”

Despite performing hundreds of stunts over the years she still feels the rush. “I still get the adrenalin, even for the small things, because it’s that hyper-focus that the adrenalin creates that helps us to do such a good job and stay on point.”

So does she have a favourite stunt she’s performed?

“I was doubling Michelle Rodriguez [on the first Fast and Furious film] and it was the day-time truck heist.”

The scene, which has one of the series’ most memorable, involves a high-speed pursuit culminating in Michelle Rodriguez’s character driving her car under a truck.

“A lot of people today, when I tell them that, they go, oh, was that computer generated? That was computer generated,” Evans says with a laugh. “No. No, no. It’s the real thing.”

Is There Still A Place For Stunt Drivers In Hollywood?

Technological advances have made it easier and cheaper for film producers to use computer-generated stunt scenes. But Evans says the Fast and Furious producers are keen to keep things old school.

“We try to do the real thing as much as possible, especially on the Fast movies, which I think is much more interesting,” she says. The “zombie” car scene from the latest film, for example, was all real.

“I think you lose the audience when you do a lot of CG, and sometimes when you put something in there that really doesn’t belong, that you could have done practically, you lose the audience,” Evans argues.

“CG has its place, but a lot of times they like to step over the boundaries. I’m not saying on the Fast films, but just in general… especially the superhero ones. They step over the boundaries, and then they lose the audience. So what we try to do on the Fast and Furious movies is we try and do as much real as possible.”

Even the totally crazy Lamborghini vs. nuclear submarine finale in Fate of the Furious was actually filmed on the ice… though the submarine was, sadly, computer-generated.

There aren’t too many films Evans hasn’t worked on, but a recent blockbuster she loved, and had nothing to do with, was Baby Driver.

“The way they timed it to the music and then also, some of the moves they did with the cars… they have some really cool moves in there that I’ve never seen before,” she said.

There you go: despite the fact technology can give us wild set-pieces involving nuclear-powered vessels, there’s still nothing that beats an old fashioned car chase set to some classic tunes.

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Fate of the Furious is available now digitally and on Blu-ray and DVD.

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Osman Faruqi is Junkee’s News, Politics, and Fast and Furious Editor. He tweets at @oz_f.