vin diesel
Is Universal Casting Charlize Theron In A FAST 8 Villain Role?
Courtesy Of Paramount Pictures
It’s been nearly thirteen years since director F. Gary Gray led Paramount Pictures’s The Italian Job to a bolstering box office hit, with the same duration standing for Gray’s partnering with actor Vin Diesel for crime pic, A Man Apart. For the latter, the circle has come full with both now readying Fast 8, the first of Universal Pictures’s final trilogy for the Fast And Furious franchise, and with just enough spectacle and scope to help leave a lasting impression another new beginning of the franchise.
That said, with the previous installment, Furious Seven, already incapacitating its villain, played by Jason Statham, sources over at Deadline are now affirming that the reunion between Diesel and Gray won’t stop there. The report suggests that the studio is now looking to add a female villain in the form of actress Charlize Theron. Gray previously directed Theron on the set of The Italian Job in which she plays a professional safe cracker convinced to an opportune mission steal a truckload of gold bricks with the added benefit of getting even with the traitor who murdered her father. Statham starred in a supporting role.
Theron has since gone on to great things in her career, specifically with starring in George Miller’s Oscar multi-nominated hit, Mad Max: Fury Road, which went on to gross nearly $380 million dollars last year. The report says Universal isn’t commenting but Theron’s name is definitely in the running with plenty of potential as it would add a strong female antagonist to give Fast franchise mainstays like Michelle Rodriguez and Jordanna Brewster among its current crop of heroines a good run.
Casting updates are still pending while Diesel is currently filming xXx3 with Thai action star, Tony Jaa and Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, and Theron possibly remains on deck to lead Sony’s The Gray Man and Focus Features’s The Coldest City.
Fast 8 is the first of the final trilogy in the Fast And Furious saga with the first set for April 14, 2017 followed by the second on April 19, 2019 and the third stamped for April 2, 2021.
Pro-tip: If you haven’t seen The Italian Job, consider yourselves on notice.
The Final FAST Trilogy Gets A Release Schedule Through 2021
Actor Vin Diesel is currently in a “Xander state of mind” while filming xXx3 with a wicked cast. In the meantime, Diesel isn’t about to break consistency with “Toretto Tuesday” in lieu of all things to come with the remaining films of the Fast saga.
Fast 8 is poised to film later this year rejoining Diesel with A Man Apart and Straight Outta Compton helmer F. Gary Gray and Neal Moritz producing for an April 14, 2017 release as per last year’s announcement. On that note, the actor went to Instagram late in the evening to share some big news from Universal Pictures in the following post, stamping official release dates for the last two films:
A photo posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on Feb 2, 2016 at 10:51pm PST
No plot details are available yet but several cast members from previous films are expected to return, including Tyrese Gibson, Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson now balancing between filming a new season of ballers as well as two other films this year, and Jason Statham who played the villain in director James Wan’s Furious Seven, contributing to its $1.5 billion dollar gross last Spring. This, coupled with some epic scenery promised in places like Cuba and New York City next to its base in Altana, Georgia.
A director has not yet been tapped for either Fast 9 or 10 as it’s still early in the scheule, so keep your eyes peeled for more ahead.
FURIOUS 8 Gets A Release Date. You Read That Correctly.
With events at this year’s CinemaCon underway, it’s been announced that Universal Pictures has officially planted a flag for Furious 8 on April 14, 2017. The recent seventh installment, Furious Seven, became a billion-dollar box office smash hit with domestic and global acclaim, continuing the fifteen-year long saga built on speed, in addition to a diverse cast and a sprawling narrative built on cars, thrilling action, and the biggest most thematically prevalent element within the film series, family.
The eighth installment will no doubt continue its story without one of its leads, late actor Paul Walker whose primary character, Brian O’Connor, was given a final send-off in Furious Seven under director James Wan, completed with real footage with Walker and footage rendered with his image through digital hybrid performances with the help of doubles, including brothers Caleb and Cody Walker. Previous reports have speculated as to whether or not Justin Lin who helmed all but two films within the series would return to direct the remaining films within the franchise, whilst Wan himself also has the option of doing the same between now and then.
There’s no official word yet on who will return or join the new cast, although franchise principle Vin Diesel and action star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson are possibilities as well as Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham and others. Other updates since then have largely pertained to Diesel’s publicity on the film with mentions of the forthcoming eighth entry as a portmanteau titling it “F8” – a film that would otherwise be “from Paul” as opposed to the seventh, which was, in essence a tribute to the late actor. The news is only breaking, but this was bound to happen considering the overall accolades being received through the film’s commercial success, as well as the warm reception of the treatment of Walker’s cinematic exit.
Stay tuned..
H/T: Variety
Well, This Was Pretty Cool!
“@NStarszak: If you had a too pick a new villain, who would you cast??? @creepypuppet #AskFurious7” Dame Helen Mirren 🙂
— James Wan (@creepypuppet) April 1, 2015
Provided that Furious 7 director James Wan gets to sit in for the eighth film in the new trilogy, he and franchise star, actor Vin Diesel may get their wish, and I’m saying it: Either I called it by dumb luck, or someone very famous is reading my blog.
Furious 7 had its stellar premiere in Hollywood this week we’re just hours away from the film’s opening across the U.S. on Friday. In lieu of all the electricity for the new movie, Furious 8 is already making headlines with Diesel lending mentions of possible story hints located anywhere between China and New York City, and nothing is being made publicly official just yet even as the actor has been plotting a course for the elongated, intricate growth of the Fast And Furious saga since the foruth film in 2009 – something he also made clear in 2011.
That said, the canon is now set following the first three films beginning in 2001, ultimately weaving together a tale of L.A. street racers who have leveled up to become globetrotting outlaws, taking on crime bosses from walks of life beyond borders from drug kingpins to specially-trained mercenaries. Hopefully you’ve caught up on all six film by now with the seventh releasing this week in the U.S., and now with all the talk surrounding an eighth film in the franchise, at least one other voice has been outspoken regarding her own ambitions to be a part of the franchise.
Yahoo! reported on Monday that actress Dame Helen Mirren showed interest in starring in the franchise at some point, and in my own coverage, I mused on a rather peculiar plot point of my own that would be a brilliant setup for what lies ahead in the third trilogy. Now, I’m not saying that Diesel reads my blog or anything (I honestly wouldn’t know and I would be humbled if he did). Otherwise, I would call it a hell of a coincidence that Diesel’s recent statements quoted at CBS News are an exact highlight of my coverage four days ago.
“I respect that. That’s what you need to do in this business,” Diesel said in response to Mirren’s earlier statements regarding her own role in the franchise. “I respect that she’s coming out and saying, ‘I don’t care what anyone thinks. I know the deal. I know I want to work with this dude, and I know I want to work with this franchise.’” He continued with some suggestions about what kind of role she would play, adding, “There are so many options!… You’ve got Nathalie Emmanuel’s mother. You’ve got, of course, the matriarch to the Shaw brothers!”…
The Matriarch.
Of the Shaw brothers.
Bruh.
I so hope this happens at some point between Furious 8 and 9 or however long Universal Pictures plans to keep this thing going. Mirren is a proven badass as it is and she can clearly take on an action role as it is. She’s darn fun to watch in Red and Red 2 while hopefully there will be a third, and as it stands, I hope she gets added as one of the handful of faces I would love to see return and emerge to the franchise in some way or another. Vin wants it, James wants it, and I know I want it. So since we’re talking about it, I guess the question is who else do we need to want it before this can be made to happen? Becuase it should. That’s all.
Furious 7 rolls in this Friday in the states. I might not blog much since I have to save battery power between surfing and working, so you guys have a good weekend!
Dame Helen Mirren Wants In As A 'Fast And Furious' Villainess, And I Say Make It Happen!
QUESTION: What do you guys think? Would Dame Helen Mirren make a great villain for a this saga or not? Speak freely below or on our Facebook page!