He has been there since the beginning as car loving criminal with a heart of gold, Dominic Toretto, but this actor almost got passed over for his career-making role.

It has been revealed that studio bosses wanted Timothy Olyphant to star opposite Paul Walker in The Fast And The Furious franchise not Vin Diesel.

Producer Neil H. Moritz revealed to Bill Simmons on his podcast Wednesday that the 49-year-old actor was not on anyone’s radar to play Dom at first.

Almost did not make the cut: It has been revealed that studio bosses wanted Timothy Olyphant to star opposite Paul Walker in The Fast And The Furious franchise not Vin Diesel (pictured here with Paul in the 2001 film)

Neil said: ‘I had been working with Paul Walker on another movie, Skulls, and I gave him the script [for The Fast and the Furious]. Rob Cohen, who I had made The Rat Pack with, we gave him the script. The two of them liked the idea.

‘And then we had to look for Dom Toretto. The studio said, ”If you can get Timothy Olyphant to play that role we will greenlight the movie.”

‘The luckiest thing that ever happened to us is Tim Olyphant turned us down. He’s a great actor. In fact, I’m curious to see what that movie would have been.’

Tim’s decision was a blessing for Vin who then got the call up, only problem – he was not convinced the movie was for him either.

Top pick: Producer Neil H. Moritz revealed to Bill Simmons on his podcast Wednesday that studio said if they signed Timothy (pictured February)  it would greenlight the movie

Changed the tone: Neil (seen here with Furious star Ludacris in 2013) said, ”The luckiest thing that ever happened to us is Tim Olyphant turned us down. He’s a great actor. In fact, I’m curious to see what that movie would have been’

Neil said: ‘I went and met him at [a restaurant] and he wasn’t a star yet, but the great thing about Vin is he always believed he was a star.

‘I was going in there to think he’s coming to me to want the role and I’m the one there now having to convince him to do the role!

‘Lucky for both of us that happened. And then we started to make the movie.’

Had to be convinced: Tim’s decision was a blessing for Vin who then got the call up, only problem – he was not convinced the movie was for him either (pictured is the original’s stars -L-R Matt Shulze, Michelle Rodriguez, Chad Lindberg, Vin, Paul, Johnny Strong, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune

After signing up for the first film in 2001, Vin has appeared in seven of the eight movies.

He was unable to be part of Tokyo Drift due to other commitments.

The eighth film, The Fate Of The Furious, is released Thursday and Vin’s character has gone rogue and this time his crew find themselves pitted against him.

Cone at me bro: The eighth film, The Fate Of The Furious, is released Thursday and Vin’s character has gone rogue