For one thing, Han, Kang’s character in the film who serves as a mentor to the main character played by Lucas Black, did not exist in the script. Director Lin initially asked Kang to read for the lead role of Sean Boswell, but the studios wanted a white person for the lead.

“So I was instructed to prepare to read for the main villain,” Kang remembers. “Then Justin changed his mind about me reading for the villain. In the original script, there was a small part of an ultra cool African American character named Pharell. [The character] had lots of ladies and was cool. Justin called me the night before and said to prepare for Pharell. I was confused by now and really stressed.”

But Kang soon learned there was method to Lin’s madness. Kang impressed the producers with his reading and this allowed Lin to create the character of Han specifically for Kang to play.

“All the auditioning was to let my work as an actor speak for itself, so when Justin presented the Han character to the heads, they weren’t totally surprised,” Kang says. “Otherwise the studio would have been like — ‘what are you crazy, an Asian American dude can’t pull this off!’ I give all the credit to Justin, his strategy was ingenious.”

Had director Lin not agreed to the project, the film may have turned out differently in many other respects (fellow BLT alumnus Jason Tobin also appears in Tokyo Drift). For one thing, when he first received the script, Lin found that it was … stereotypical.

“I liked the idea of setting the film in Tokyo,” he says, “but I didn’t like their idea of Tokyo — it was all Buddhas and kimonos. It wasn’t the Tokyo I know. I wanted to bring a fresh perspective to it. It’s in a way, a post-modern Western.”

With the studio’s blessing and support, Lin worked with writer Chris Morgan (Cellular) to develop a script more grounded in reality. At the same time, he immersed himself in the world of drifting — something Lin admits he knew little about.

“I’m not into cars but I grew up loving basketball,” he says. “And I hate watching [basketball] movies where you can tell the actors can’t really play.”

DRIFTING

Drifting originated in the rural mountain roads of Japan by young drivers who sped along the windy canyon roads with the rears of their cars sliding through the sharp turns. This style soon found its way to the local street racing scene, and has started to make its way into the United States and Europe. It is still a largely unknown phenomenon to most Westerners, most of whom will have their first exposure through this film.

Lin and his producers recruited some of the best drifters from both here and abroad —including Toshi Hayama and Japan’s “Drift King” Keiichi Tsuchiya — to act as consultants for the film.

“I got to hang out with these guys and immerse myself in this world,” Lin says. “And I realized it was nothing like what I thought it’d be. Drifters are like surfers. It’s not all testosterone.”

With the script ready to go and the start date looming, Lin focused on casting the rest of the film. Aside from Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights), rapper-turned-actor Bow Wow and newcomer Nathalie Kelley, most of the remaining cast was filled out by Asian and Asian American talent. In fact, it may be hard to name another English-language Hollywood film this year that features such a long list of Asian actors.

Aside from Kang and Tobin, other significant Asian roles are played by Leonardo Nam (The Perfect Score), legendary Japanese star JJ Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill: Vol. 1) and Brian Tee (We Were Soldiers) as main villain D.K. (Drift King), who is the leader of the local drift scene until Black’s character challenges his position. But don’t tell Tee he’s playing the bad guy.

Here is Tee’s description of his character (with tongue somewhat in cheek): “A foreigner, comes into his world that he helped build, tries to steal his girlfriend, befriends Han, starts stealing money from him and tries to outdo him in one thing he is best at, drift racing. So, how is D.K. the bad guy?”

“He’s a tragic figure with choices,” Tee says of his character. “D.K. is stuck in a tug of war with the two sides of his life. One is where his honor and loyalty lie with his family, name and Yakuza responsibilities. The other is where his spirit, passion and love are within drift racing and his girlfriend Neela. So he has a huge arc that you rarely see in a villain.”

But aside from a chance to play a cool “bad guy” and drive fast cars, Tee has the cherished opportunity to work opposite Japanese film legend Sonny Chiba of The Street Fighter series, who plays D.K.’s Uncle Kamata, the local Yakuza boss.

“He has such a great presence … that you can’t help but pick up your game,” Tee says. “The scene with him and me in the back room was not only one of my favorites, but one that was most demanding. Not only was the scene a huge turning point within my character, but it was done entirely in Mr. Chiba’s native tongue, Japanese. So I worked extremely hard to get my Japanese ‘native.’ It was very fulfilling.”

Fulfilling is also a word that both Kang and Lin use to describe their second collaboration together. But how different was it to go from the no-budget, indie atmosphere of Better Luck Tomorrow to working on Universal’s big-budget, tent pole summer action flick?

“The main difference on something like this is you have a lot of financial resources and you really have to galvanize a lot of people,” Lin says.

But Lin says the pressure on a film this enormous is nothing compared to what he felt with Better Luck Tomorrow, when he first took his film to the Sundance Festival as an anonymous director with massive debts after maxing out 10 credit cards to make his movie.

“That was life or death,” he says. “That was real pressure.”

But even after all the success that followed, Kang feels his director and good friend hasn’t changed.

“I think the only difference between Tokyo Drift and BLT is that we had more food and more equipment,” Kang, who also appears in the indie film The Motel, which opens on June 28 in New York, says. “But from the veteran crew to the actors we all were able to believe in Justin, and knew we were protected by him.”

But that doesn’t mean the experience wasn’t a bit surreal. Kang says he’ll never forget the moment during pre-production when he, Lin and Josh Diamond (Lin’s assistant director on BLT who also worked on Tokyo Drift) came down to the production office to greet the film’s staff. The trio made their way down the hallway saying their hellos and acting very official.

“Then we closed Justin’s office door and we burst out laughing,” Kang remembers. “We pointed out to each other the free bottles of water and all the chairs and desks in the office. A long way from five pieces of gum at the craft service table during BLT. It reminded us how far we came but, most importantly, how far we came together.”

If Justin Lin needs any further reminders of how far he’s come, he received thousands of them, in the number of people who gathered at the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal Studios to catch Tokyo Drift’s world premiere.

And if the audience reaction is any indication, the movie seems to provide the adrenaline rush that fans of the franchise are looking for.

After the screening, as the last of the long throngs of well-wishers comes up to congratulate him, Lin seemed exhausted, but also very pleased. Yet, it seems there will be no rest.

“I have a three-day break,” he says, explaining that his next film — a return to his no-budget, indie roots — will shoot this summer.

So, how will he spend his three days off? Sleeping? Sitting on some beach?

“Nah, I’m just going to get wild,” he says with a laugh.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift opens nationwide on June 16.