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Writer-producer Chris Morgan was working on the set of the action-packed film Hobbs & Shaw when Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson’s right-hand man, approached him with an exciting idea for a new movie, Red One. As they were filming a complex car and helicopter chase near a cliff in the beautiful island of Kauai, Morgan couldn’t help but be distracted by the red dirt flying everywhere, but Garcia’s persistence eventually won him over.
That evening, Garcia, who serves as the president of Johnson’s Seven Bucks production company, presented Morgan with the overall plot of Red One, an action-comedy that follows the story of Santa’s (played by J.K. Simmons) abduction and his head of security, Callum Drift (played by Dwayne Johnson), who must team up with a rogue operative (played by Chris Evans) to recover him. Morgan was impressed by the idea and agreed to help develop the project.
“I was prepared not to, but I really, really loved it,” Morgan told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was like, ‘I actually think you have a hopeful message that’s really cool and that the world could use.’ So we agreed to try and put this thing together.”
Morgan and Garcia took the idea to Dwayne Johnson and fellow Seven Bucks co-founder Dany Garcia, who instantly fell in love with the concept. In a career first, Morgan didn’t actively pitch the film once they took it around town. Instead, he let Hiram Garcia take the lead, and the young producer sold the movie to every studio they met with.
“Dwayne has been aching to do a Christmas movie forever,” Morgan explained. “He’s like the king of Christmas. So [Johnson and Dany Garcia] jumped in, and we ended up pitching it to every studio. Hiram actually pitched the movie … I wanted him to get that experience of getting in there and doing it. So he sold it in every single room, and then Amazon ultimately jumped in.”
Morgan has been a key architect of the Fast & Furious franchise since the third installment, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). He’s written and/or produced every single chapter from there, with the exception of F9. However, the most reappraised film in the saga is the Japan-based story that introduced him to the world, as the standalone sequel was not well received upon its release.
But Morgan’s reputation as a talented writer and producer was solidified when Christopher Nolan commented in 2020 that he has a “very soft spot” for Tokyo Drift. Morgan was thrilled to hear the news and had the opportunity to discuss it with Nolan himself.
“How could it not?” Morgan asked, beaming with pride. “He is literally one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of humanity, and he likes my movie. By the way, I’ve spoken to him about it since then. From where we started to now, you have no idea how good it feels to hear that everyone appreciates what we’ve always appreciated about it.”
When Dwayne Johnson surprised Fast fans with his return to the primary Fast storyline in Louis Leterrier’s Fast X, he announced that his feud with Vin Diesel had been resolved and that a Hobbs movie would set up what is now regarded as Fast 11. However, it no longer sounds like Fast 11 will be preceded by a Hobbs-led film at the moment.
Morgan is still working on a Hobbs & Shaw script, but the release schedule is uncertain. “The release schedule is really something the studio would have to speak to,” Morgan said. “We’re talking about what comes when and how, but I’ll leave that to greater minds than mine.”
In a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Morgan discussed why the ending of Red One is a helpful balm during a trying time in the world and revealed the genre he’s been wanting to tackle for quite some time.
The idea for Red One originated with Hiram Garcia, who wanted to treat the North Pole like a military or government operation, with Dwayne Johnson playing Santa’s head of security in the wake of his abduction. Morgan was drawn to the project because of its hopeful message and the opportunity to work with a talented cast and crew.
“I don’t know if I felt more freedom, but there were a lot more toys to play with,” Morgan said. “Our sandbox here was all the Christmas lore throughout the history of mankind, and beyond that, Lucy Liu’s character, Zoe, is the director of this group called M.O.R.A. The Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority protects us from mythological creatures, but more importantly, it protects the mythological world from us since we’re more detrimental to them than they are to us.”
Morgan’s approach to writing is structured and research-heavy, and he typically doesn’t start with a blank page. Instead, he begins with a character and a clear idea of the story’s direction.
“I’m a pretty structured guy,” Morgan explained. “I tend to research and outline very heavily. I need to know where I’m going, which is weird. My mom was a novelist who published 18 novels. You’ve never heard of any of them. They were smaller print sorts of things, but she would just sit down at a computer and say, ‘I want to do a murder mystery.’ She would just start, and it always confounded me. It gives me panic attacks just thinking about it.”
Morgan’s favorite part of the writing process is when he gets to explore new ideas and genres. He’s been wanting to tackle a horror movie for quite some time and has been watching a lot of horror films in his free time.
“One of my passions is horror, and I would like to do one great horror movie someday,” Morgan said. “I’ve been through all of them, and I never get bored of horror. I just love it.”
Red One is now in theaters, and Morgan is excited to see how audiences will respond to the film’s hopeful message and action-packed storyline.
“That is literally the reason why I took the job,” Morgan said. “Of course, I love working with Dwayne and Hiram and Jake and our whole cast, but this movie happened at the right time for so many reasons. The message of the movie really is hope. It reminds you that no matter how dark things get, if you look at the people next to you and find the light within them, you can find it within yourself.”
