Universal’s Female-Led FAST Spin-Off Gets Marvel And Hasbro Writers
It appears Universal is steadfast on testing the shelflife of the long-running Fast saga since landing in 2001 with Rob Cohen at the helm. Eighteen years, eight films and well over $5.1 billion dollars at the box office later, the franchise has rewarded itself by entering spin-off territory with now two titles forthwith.
This week, franchise star Vin Diesel took to Instagram to announce an all-female trinity of screenwriting talent in the form of Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. Universal hasn’t announced the film themselves yet while the announcement on Diesel’s end bookends now public knowledge that the film will be a female-fronted contribution to the franchise.
Diesel posted the following with production partner Samantha Vincent:
As you know, there are three new spin offs that We have promised Universal… well this week we heard a pitch for the Fast female protagonist driven spinoff I created in 2017, and you can tell by the smile on Samantha’s face it was VERY exciting. Shout out to Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer, Geneva Robertson-Dworet. Welcome to the Fast FAMILY…
The news is certainly a welcome chyron for headline addicts, particularly those who’ve payed fair mind to actress Michelle Rodriguez who has been with the franchise in the role of the ‘Fast family’ matriarch, “Letty”, since the first film. In a June 2017 post on Instagram the day of the home release of F. Gary Gray’s The Fate Of The Furious, Rodriguez wrote, in part, the following:
…I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one. Or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise. It’s been a good ride & Im grateful for the opportunity the fans & studio have provided over the years… One Love
It’s not the first time Rodriguez has played with mentions of retiring from the franchise. Unbeknownst to the lot of us is if she’ll actually be involved in this particular spin-off, though Diesel being a franchise producer dropping this kind of gem early on should second warm signals to the fandom.
Perlman served as screenwriter on Guardians Of The Galaxy and is said to be tending to a treatment for a standalone Black Widow film. She also wrote Rob Letterman’s upcoming release of Pokémon Detective Pikachu which bows in May.
Beer is credited for Sierra Burgess Is A Loser as well as the current development of a yet-to-be-titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot announced earlier this month by Andrew Form and Brad Fuller at the Critics Choice Awards. She penned Doug Liman’s book adaptation, Chaos Walking which opens next year.
Robertson-Dworet wrote Roar Uthaug’s Tomb Raider starring Alicia Vikander and is partnered with Perlman and Beer in respective writers’ rooms for Hasbro properties, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light and M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand). Her latest screenwriting credit bows in March with Captain Marvel.
Diesel will reprise the role of Dom Toretto among a crop of new and returning cast members for two final entries into the Fast saga that will each bow with the ninth on April 10, 2020, and the tenth on April 2, 2021. Next February, Diesel will segue from the Marvel cinematic universe into Valiant territory for the title role of Bloodshot from director Dave Wilson.
Universal’s first feature-length stop in Fast spin-off territory will be the arrival of the David Leitch-directed Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby and Eiza González, opening on August 2.
*As far as spin-off hype goes and depending on how this film bodes, I wouldn’t cancel out Gonzalez and Kirby for the Diesel-announced production but as always, let’s see how this race finishes! (/Film)
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!