Moviefone Editorial

Tag: michelle-rodriguez

  • ‘F9’ Review: Fast, Wild, and Worth Waiting for on the Big Screen

    ‘F9’ Review: Fast, Wild, and Worth Waiting for on the Big Screen

    Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel in ‘F9’

    It’s hard to look at the 20-year-old ‘The Fast & the Furious’ and see the beginnings of a blockbuster franchise, but here we are. And if the series has moved past illegal street races and into heist and spy movie territory, that’s all for the better. As this rogue’s gallery of street racers has become an unstoppable team of vehicle-based super agents, the movies in the franchise have increasingly raised the stakes for our heroes, physics and reality be damned. And you know what? It’s worked, including the latest chapter ‘F9.’

    Where do you go after taking on a tank, a cargo plane, and a submarine? I won’t spoil anything here (although you’ll get some hints from the trailer), but it’s pretty impressive how director and co-writer Justin Lin takes the series to new heights while acknowledging the increasingly insane action sequences our heroes find themselves in.

    Our story starts off with a flashback to Dom’s past, as he’s part of his father’s pit crew at what will be turn out to be the senior Toretto’s final race. We’re also introduced to Jakob, Dom’s younger brother. It’s hard to imagine that Dom, always preaching to us about family, has never, even mentioned his brother, but that’s far from the least-believable element in this movie. (To be clear, I’m not complaining about over-the-top elements, but you’ll need to go further than “willing suspension” and actively lock up your disbelief and throw away the key.)

    We soon return to the present to see Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) living a bucolic life off the grid with young Brian, Dom’s adorable young son who (of course) is being taught how to fix engines by Dad. Do the Torettos miss all the extreme driving? Of course they do, but Dom claims to have left that in the past. But as an unknown SUV pulls up, Dom & Letty pull out some fairly heavy-duty weaponry and send Brian off to hide; clearly they fear the past hasn’t left them.

    Their visitors turn out to be more of the old crew – Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), who are welcomed with open arms. The visitors have come with news that the man that brought them into the spy game, Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) has sent them a cryptic S.O.S. message. The message contains coordinates and evidence that an old nemesis, Cypher (Charlize Theron) is involved. Although initially hesitant, Dom joins the rest of the crew on a trip to Central America to find out what happened to Mr. Nobody.

    Now that we have buy-in from Dom, the plot can get really get started. The crew’s discovery of mysterious tech leads to gunfights and a wild chase scene through the jungle, which then sets the stage for Jakob Toretto (John Cena) to make an appearance. It’s not a joyful reunion for the Toretto brothers. Jakob, almost as skilled a driver as Dom, is now a rogue secret agent, and makes off with that MacGuffin, leaving the rest of the crew dumbfounded. And now Mia (Jordana Brewster) is involved since, as she reminds Dom, Jakob is her brother too.

    The plot then goes into classic James Bond territory; it turns out Jakob is working for Otto (Thue Ersted Rasmussen) the billionaire son of the head of an unnamed state, who plans to use the MacGuffin tech to take over the world. The plot jumps through a few hoops to show us some familiar faces past entries in the franchise, including Lucas Black, Helen Mirren, Shad “Lil’ Bow Wow” Moss, and most notably, Sung Kang as Han. The news of Sung Kang’s return broke a long time ago, but like the sudden discovery of brother Jakob, the story of Han’s reappearance is far from the most unbelievable part of the movie.

    As in other long-running franchises, it can be tricky to give all the returning characters enough screen time to satisfy, but Lin manages to give everyone more than simply one moment to shine. In fact, one of the smartest moves he makes is to use the characters almost as a sort of Greek chorus, to comment on the very tropes he’s using in the movie. In one hilarious (and frankly mind-blowing) Gibson’s Roman questions the crew’s repeated survival, almost as if Lin was cribbing from Tom Stoppard’s ‘Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.’ We also get another character saying “if this was a movie, this is the moment when…” and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t work. But there are also some moments that give some characters a little more depth. The brief meditation on parenthood from Letty and Mia doesn’t feel forced too forced, mainly because Letty basically admits she’d rather be tearing it up instead of hiding out. And in one of the more inspired choices, we discover that Ramsey doesn’t drive, so obviously she has to get behind the wheel.

    Rest assured, that if you came for the spectacle, you won’t be disappointed, and it’s amazing that the filmmakers are still coming up with new things to do with vehicles. This franchise has always made sure to make the cars into co-stars, and on his third outing in this series as cinematographer, Stephen F. Windon, is still using bright and vibrant colors and lighting to make the cars pop, and his framing really gives us a sense of the layout of each location. A trio of editors, Greg D’Auria, Dylan Highsmith, and Kelly Matsumoto, deftly follow multiple characters through each set piece and allow us to see the stakes for each individual without losing sight of the whole or getting confused as to who is doing what. There is one particular shot of Cena looking through iron bars that comes off a bit campy, though.

    As much as this movie is a spy story, Lin keeps us invested in the relationship between Dom and Jakob. Flashbacks to Dom’s past will pop up throughout the film, and Lin uses them fairly effectively to support an arc in the brothers’ relationship as the movie progresses. This is absolutely an action movie, but Lin’s past outings in the franchise gives him a familiarity with the characters that helps this movie be a bit more than a just smash-em-up car movie. I may have some minor grumbles about some of Lin’s decisions (especially one of the final shots), but F9 turns out to be one of the better entries in the entire series. There’s also a great mid-credits scene.

    For what it’s worth, I’m glad to have seen this on a big screen, although I’ll admit I love every entry in this franchise. I’m glad this one was held until it was safe (or safer) to go to a theater. If you’re open to it, there’s an infectious sense of fun that permeates this movie, and you’ll really feel it if you’re seeing it with other fans at the same time.

    4 out of 5 stars

    ‘F9’ will be in U.S. theaters on June 25th.

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  • Vin Diesel and ‘Fast and Furious 9’ Stars Celebrate First Day of Filming

    Vin Diesel and ‘Fast and Furious 9’ Stars Celebrate First Day of Filming

    Universal

    Nearly two decades into its run, the engine is still revving on the “Fast and Furious” franchise, with filming beginning this week on the ninth outing in the venerable action series.

    Several stars shared social media posts commemorating the first day of production, including Vin Diesel, who has played lead Dominic Toretto since the first flick back in 2001. In a video message on Instagram, Diesel, alongside fellow returning star Michelle Rodriguez, marveled at the insane achievement of reaching the nine-film mark.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzGh3YqlddW/

    “It feels like a miracle,” Diesel says in the clip. “We’re just so grateful.”

    Diesel went on to thank studio Universal for its support throughout the years, as well as the franchise’s large cast and crew. But the star’s biggest thanks were aimed at the fans.

    “We’re so blessed, and we love you so much,” Diesel said.

    Costar Nathalie Emmanuel (“Game of Thrones”), who joined the franchise in 2015’s “Furious 7,” also marked the occasion, tweeting out a note of excitement that “the team is back together.”

    Entertainment Weekly deciphered the emojis in Emmanuel’s tweet to determine which other actors would also be returning, surmising that the actress was most likely referring to “Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and Rodriguez’s Letty, … Tyrese Gibson’s Roman Pearce, Jordana Brewster’s Mia, Ludacris’ Tej Parker, and Emmanuel’s hacker Ramsey.”

    Fans will have to wait a little less than a year to find out for sure. “Fast and Furious 9” is due in theaters on May 20, 2020. A tenth film in the franchise is also slated for release in April 2021.

    [h/t Entertainment Weekly]

  • Michelle Rodriguez Officially Reboards ‘Fast & Furious’ Franchise

    Michelle Rodriguez Officially Reboards ‘Fast & Furious’ Franchise

    Universal

    Michelle Rodriguez is officially back for “Fast and Furious 9” after the production committed to hiring its first female screenwriter.

    The actress made headlines in June 2017 when she threatened, via an Instagram post, to leave the franchise unless producers showed “some love to the women of the franchise on the next one.”

    “I felt like there was not enough of a female voice in the franchise,” Rodriguez said May 16 at the Bloomberg Future of Equality Summit in London, Bloomburg reports. “You should evolve with the times, not just pander to certain demographics that are stuck [in the past].”

    Rodriguez has been playing Leticia “Letty” Ortiz since the first “The Fast and Furious” in 2001. Her character was presumably killed off in 2009’s “Fast & Furious,” but later revealed to be alive and returned in 2013’s “Fast & Furious 6.”

    No woman has yet directed a film in the franchise, but they did have their first female villain with Charlize Theron in “The Fate of the Furious.”

    And the studio recently announced that it is developing a female-led”Furious” spinoff, which will be written by three women: Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. It’s not known if this spinoff will feature existing characters or introduce new ones.

    The woman who ends up being hired per Rodriguez’s agreement will be the first to help write the main series.

    [Via IndieWire]

     

  • Michelle Rodriguez and Norman Reedus Made a VR Action Movie

    Michelle Rodriguez and Norman Reedus Made a VR Action Movie

    STX

    Ever wanted to fight alongside badasses Michelle Rodriguez and Norman Reedus? Now you can.

    The stars of “The Fast and the Furious” and “The Walking Dead” teamed up with “Desperado” director Robert Rodriguez for a VR action movie.

    In “The Limit,” you play a rogue agent with a mysterious past who enlists the help of super-assassin M-13 (Michelle Rodriguez). Like Jason Bourne, you’ve got to retrieve your identity and defeat the organization that created you.

    How intense does the action get? At one point in the trailer, she picks up the teeth you just had knocked out and advises you to pop them back in!

    It looks a helluva lot better than the VR series starring John Travolta.

    “The Limit” is a 20-minute action movie shot in a new VR format that’s wider than 180 degrees. It’s designed to bridge the gap between traditional, large-format filmmaking and newer 360-degree video.

    It’s from STXsurreal, the VR studio for Robert Simonds’ STX Entertainment. They partnered with Academy Award-winning visual effects company DNEG.

    This is the first in a series of upcoming live-action VR projects from the studio. Other upcoming projects include a “Jay and Silent Bob” project from Kevin Smith, a crime-thriller from “Den of Thieves” director Christian Gudegast, and an untitled Dave Bautista action-comedy.

    “The Limit” is now available on VR Platforms, including Oculus, Steam, Samsung VR, Viveport, Google Daydream, Google Play and Apple iOS.

    Michelle Rodriguez’s new heist film, “Widows,” just opened. Besides “The Walking Dead,” Reedus stars in “Ride With Norman Reedus.”

    [Via The Wrap]

     

     

     

  • ‘Widows’ Review: Director Steve McQueen and Viola Davis Deliver One Hell of a Heist Movie

    ‘Widows’ Review: Director Steve McQueen and Viola Davis Deliver One Hell of a Heist Movie

    Fox Searchlight

    Heist movies are often compelling because of their mechanics — the thrill (and spectacle) of watching crooks dismantle a system, outsmart the law and escape with their lives, and bounty, intact. Steve McQueen’s “Widows” offers a lot of superficial window dressing to make his heist unique — the fact that the would-be perpetrators are the wives of “real” thieves — but what’s compelling, even riveting, about his film is not how they are pulling it off, but why.

    Bolstered by an impressive ensemble including Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, and Liam Neeson, “Widows” brings to irresistible life the determination, and desperation, of four women struggling to control their own fate within a system built upon, and preoccupied by, its own greed, corruption, and indifference.

    Davis (“Fences”) plays Veronica Rawlins, a Chicago teacher’s union delegate whose life is thrown into disarray after her husband, Harry (Neeson), dies during a botched robbery — one he staged with his colleagues Carlos (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), Florek (Jon Bernthal), and Coburn (Jimmy Goss). Before she can begin to grieve, local crime boss Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) contacts her, demanding the money that Harry took, which he hopes will cushion his campaign for South Side alderman against incumbent Jack Mulligan (Farrell). But after retrieving Harry’s notebook, which contains the plans for his failed robbery, Veronica reaches out to the wives of his former partners — Linda (Rodriguez), Alice (Debicki), and Amanda (Carrie Coon) — enlisting them to complete the job and pay off Jamal.

    Twentieth Century Fox.

    Though initially reluctant to participate, Linda and Alice quickly discover an aptitude for the kind of reconnaissance and deception needed to mount a robbery, while Veronica canvasses Mulligan, a friend of Harry’s, for help. But even as everything finally seems to come together— hiring Belle, a resourceful babysitter, as driver after Veronica’s trusted chauffeur, Bash (Garret Dillahunt), suffers an attack at the hands of Jamal’s cold-blooded brother Jatemme (Kaluuya) — the details of the heist, and the motives of the players involved, force them to confront new and uncomfortable elements of their individual pasts. They do so even as time rapidly approaches to launch a desperate plan intended to protect their collective futures.

    Adapted with Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”) from a British miniseries of the same name, McQueen condenses what was originally six hours of BBC television into a very dense 129 minutes, though you’re unlikely to feel that there’s anything missing. They not only conjure extraordinarily vivid portraits of all of the characters involved — women and men, bad and good — but provide a rich and detailed world that gave birth to or shaped their identities. Set in Chicago against the backdrop of one of its poverty-stricken boroughs, there’s automatically a divide between the haves and have-nots, but McQueen turns that dialectic into a pathology, and a commentary on the dynamic that continues to metastasize in contemporary American society.

    Veronica lives comfortably in an apartment provided by Harry’s extracurricular exploits. But, after his death, she is left with nothing; none of it is in her name, and she is immediately reminded of her powerlessness by Jamal, who dreams of finding a legitimate role in his community but backslides into the criminality that made it financially possible for him to aspire to something greater. The always beautiful and obedient Linda was raised in an atmosphere of domestic violence, but soon discovers that there’s power in people underestimating her. And Belle, literally running from one job to the next, stumbles across the moneymaking opportunity of a lifetime — the one for which she’s inadvertently been preparing her whole adult life.

    Davis brings polished, flinty resolve to Veronica’s plight, concealing her grief behind immaculate presentation of her clothes and lifestyle to the world, not to mention a fluffy little dog that accompanies her everywhere. McQueen lets her be sexy, vulnerable, tough and unlikeable, often simultaneously, and you can feel Davis’ already-sophisticated faculties as an actress flexing with a freedom she hasn’t experienced before.

    20th Century Fox

    Debicki seems to deliver one “star-making” performance after another, but here she transforms in a really profound way that isn’t merely a byproduct of playing a women who chooses not to be a victim. She literally towers over her co-stars (she’s 6’3”), but she carries a feverish, improvisational energy and commands the screen with utter believability. Erivo is another standout as Belle, tougher and more fearless than any of the women to whom she’s meant to prove herself.

    But Kaluuya creates a singular sort of menace felt even when he’s not on screen as Jatemme, a person indoctrinated to not feel and not care about anything except his own needs and goals — and his brother’s. He is willing to stop at nothing, and do anything, to accomplish them.

    McQueen’s movies have long since explored the deeper roots of what makes us work — and not work — as a society, which may be why the film’s central robbery feels like sleight of hand. By the time it goes down, we care more about the characters at the center of this story and how they will survive than whether the machinery of their plans comes easily together. Working with longtime cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, McQueen delivers the visceral thrills of criminality, but always injects them with the greater cultural and emotional dimensions of people in a world where it feels necessary, or justified.

    Ultimately, McQueen’s latest certainly joins the ranks of films like “Heat” and “The Usual Suspects” in terms of its intelligence, intensity and complexity, but its goals are different than most heist movies, as is its success. As the best entries in the subgenre tend to build to some sort of climactic showdown and a quick getaway, “Widows” lingers in the messy, relatable humanity of the perpetrators, it cares why they are committing their crimes, and it examines what it means — not just financially, but emotionally — if they succeed.

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  • Vin Diesel Defends ‘Fast 9’ Delay: ‘The Franchise Is in Need of Maintenance’ 

    'Fast & Furious 8' Madrid PhotocallVin Diesel says it’s “unfair” to blame any one person (*cough*TheRock*cough*) for the “Fast 9” delay, arguing “the franchise is in need of maintenance,” and now they have the time for it.

    Diesel is clearly trying to bring the “Fast” family back together after Tyrese Gibson’s very public (but also very one-sided) feud with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Tyrese has posted several times, openly blaming The Rock’s Hobbs spinoff for the delay of “Fast 9” delay; he tagged The Rock and producer Hiram Garcia when writing, “I guess dreams do come true congratulations to @hhgarcia41 and @therock you guys are just amazing you really broke up the #FastFamily…”

    Diesel had posted a photo with Tyrese and Paul Walker, seeming to back Tyrese in his public attacks. However, he followed that with this “Brotherhood” photo alongside The Rock. In the new post, he addressed the “complexities” of the “Fast” family, but also teased “some very exciting news to share soon.”

    Brotherhood… and all it’s complexities. This scene was filmed in Puerto Rico, I can remember it like it was yesterday. Such a beautiful island, the people were so warm and welcoming. I turned 43 that summer… and my son Vincent was born. A woman named Jan Kelly responded to a question I had asked on Facebook, ‘who they would like to see me work with?’ She said would love to see me work with Dwayne… I listened to her request and he became Hobbs. I know there has been a lot of speculation as to why the Fast 9 release date was pushed… but it would be unfair to say it is anyone’s fault. As we plot the course to expand the Fast & Furious universe, one must be mindful to take stock of the roads we took to get here. The pillars of authenticity, family and most importantly, our loyal fan’s perspective has been instrumental in procuring success. However, like any vehicle that has run around the globe 8 times, the franchise is in need of maintenance. My good friend and the godfather of Universal, Ron Meyer has granted me the time to do just that. We have some very exciting news to share soon… stay tuned. Yours truly, Dom #FamilyAlways

    A post shared by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on

    After that post, he shared this one with on-screen wife Michelle Rodriguez:

    The Torettos…

    A post shared by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on

    It’s possible the “maintenance” and “exciting news” have to do with Rodriguez’s complaint that there hasn’t been enough for the women to do after eight movies in the franchise. Either way, fans are on standby for some good news on the “Fast 9” front.

    “Fast 9” was scheduled to open in 2019 but that was pushed to 2020. The spinoff with The Rock and Jason Statham will now open in 2019.

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  • Vin Diesel Supports Michelle Rodriguez, But Also Confirms Her Post Wasn’t About Him

    'Fast & Furious 6' South Korea PremiereNot *every* “Fast and Furious” Instagram rant is about Vin Diesel. Some still are, but producer/star Diesel made sure it was clear that Michelle Rodriguez’s ultimatum about her involvement in the franchise was not directed to him.

    Rodriguez posted about maybe leaving the “Fast” franchise if they don’t do more for the women in the next two films. Since Diesel is a producer with a lot of sway behind the scenes, and since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s “candy asses” post was reportedly about him, Diesel may have worried for a moment that it was another shot across is own bow. But he and Rodriguez — who play married Dom and Letty — are tight and in Diesel’s new Instagram video, she makes it clear that he has always been “the biggest supporter of strong women,” and no posts from her are ever about him.

    Diesel’s caption suggests he’s taking Rodriguez’s evolution point seriously. We’ll see what’s next for Letty, Dom, and company when “Fast 9” opens April 19, 2019; “Fast 10” is scheduled for April 2, 2021.

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  • Michelle Rodriguez May Leave ‘Fast’ Franchise If They Don’t ‘Show Some Love to the Women’

    'The Fate Of The Furious' New York PremiereThe “Fast and Furious” franchise is gearing up for its ninth and tenth installments (!!!), and Michelle Rodriguez thinks it’s about time the women had more to do.

    “Fast” is such an alpha-male heavy franchise, the guys even lock horns in real life (see The Rock and Vin Diesel) but that doesn’t mean the women are content to just be sidekicks, especially after so many years. Rodriguez has played Letty Ortiz in six “Fast” films to date, and she had to push to even get as much screen time and activity as she’s had. When she pushes for Letty, aka Dom’s (Vin Diesel) wife, she also pushes for the other women of the franchise, and they all benefit. So she’s doing that again.

    On Tuesday, to honor “The Fate of the Furious” arriving on Digital HD, Rodriguez gave a public ultimatum on her “Fast” future:

    Instagram is the official “Fast” family feud forum — The Rock took his “candy asses” shot on Instagram, and now this.

    The “Fast” franchise has added more women to the cast over the years — including Gal Gadot, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Charlize Theron, and Helen Mirren — when back in 2001 it was just Rodriguez’s Letty and Jordana Brewster’s Mia. However, just adding more female bodies isn’t quite what Rodriguez is suggesting.

    “I’ve been making movies with Jordana, who plays the sister of Dom Toretto, for 16 years and I can count on one hand how many lines I’ve had to her,” Rodriguez recently told Entertainment Weekly. “I think that’s pathetic and it’s lack of creativity.”

    Rodriguez is always blunt (which we love) and that’s sometimes what it takes to make things happen. As usual, fans have mixed reactions — some hoping The Powers That Be take her suggestion, and others feeling like she should just leave if she doesn’t like the current dynamic.

    “Fast 9” is scheduled for April 19, 2019. “Fast 10” is scheduled for April 2, 2021.

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  • Milla Jovovich Almost Quit ‘Resident Evil’ Over Rewrites for Michelle Rodriguez

    Special Screening of 'Resident Evil'Milla Jovovich turned the Alice of “Resident Evil” into an action franchise icon, but the whole thing almost fell apart when she was blindsided by rewrites. In an oral history with Inverse, Jovovich explained that she almost quit the 2002 film when she found out — while flying across the Atlantic ocean to set — that some of her best action scenes were being given to Michelle Rodriguez, because Rodriguez was then the new star on the rise.

    First, Jovovich explained that she wanted the role of Alice because she was a big fan of the video game and would play it all the time with her younger brother. Also, “I wanted to produce the movie, because I just thought, oh what a great property, to have such strong female characters that even my brother and his friends would rather play as Jill Valentine or Claire Redfield than the guys. And then I found out that it was being made by Paul’s company, so I just asked to come in and read for it.”

    Paul is writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson, whom Jovovich met while working on “Resident Evil.” They ended up marrying in 2009, and have two children, but there was a rocky start to their relationship when she confronted him over the script changes.

    Here’s that part of the oral history, from Jovovich’s perspective:

    “I almost quit the movie. I was shooting something else, and Paul had hired Michelle Rodriguez to play Rain. And she had just come off Girlfight and there was Oscar buzz. She was very hot at that moment, and my hotness had sort of been already four years old by that point. So Paul rewrote the script for her. It pretty much made my character ‘the girl,’ and Rain was ‘the guy.’ She got all of my big action scenes, and she became like Alice. And then Alice became this tag-along.

    I didn’t get the new draft until I was leaving to go to Germany from Canada, where I was working. I ended up reading the script on the plane, so by the time I landed in Berlin, I was livid. I got to the hotel and said, ‘We have to have to a big talk or I’m going to be on a flight tomorrow morning.’

    So Paul ended up coming over that evening and we literally sat for three hours and went through the script, page by page. He was like, ‘What do you mean? This didn’t change that much?’ So I was like, ‘OK, why don’t we start with page one?’ I pointed out every time I felt like my great scenes were taken away. That was how we started our relationship.”

    Hopefully that doesn’t read as a “Girlfight” on its own, because the result kept Alice in the lead role of what would be a six-film franchise, and also gave a strong role to Michelle Rodriguez as Rain, who returned for “Resident Evil: Retribution.”

    Inverse’s oral history also includes praise from Ali Larter, whose Claire joined the cast in the third movie:

    “I loved the idea of getting involved in a female-led franchise; especially in these action-zombie movies, you don’t usually see a woman in that role. I was originally very attracted to that, seeing Milla and the fact that they were then bringing a character that wasn’t going to be in competition with her. They build each other, they end up having this connection, and they work together. I thought that was really special.”

    Read the full history for more.

    [h/t: EW]

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  • ‘Fate of the Furious’ Writer & Stars Address #JusticeforHan

    You may have noticed — or even contributed to — the hashtag #JusticeforHan after watching “The Fate of the Furious,” and The Powers That Be have taken note.

    Fans were not happy to see the movie end with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) being welcomed into Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) family when we know Shaw killed Dom’s crew buddy Han (Sung Kang).

    Did they forget about him?

    The L.A. Times talked to the cast and filmmakers about it, and Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz) is 100 percent with fans. “I know,” she said “When [Deckard] was introduced, they didn’t even think for us to give him any flack when he walked in. And we were like, ‘Yo, dude, this guy killed one of our boys! You know it doesn’t fly like that!’”

    So what happened? Here’s where Rodriguez gets candid:

    “At the end of the day, you’re talking about a Hollywood demographic blockbuster character overriding story. That’s the battle that you have when you make movies this big. They were like, ‘We know that the grand majority of the audience wants to see this guy be on your side, so that overrides the fact that he killed one of your guys.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s going to fly when we hit the Asian markets, but all right,’” she laughed. “I don’t write this stuff. What can I tell you?”

    The guy who did write it is screenwriter/producer Chris Morgan, who hinted to answers ahead in the next two sequels.

    “Justice for Han … justice for Han,” he repeated to the L.A. Times, when discussing the fan hashtag. “I think you’ll learn a lot more about it, and I don’t know if that hashtag will be the appropriate one to put on it down the road. But I can tell you this: We will definitely be talking more about Han. Look, I am literally the biggest Han/Sung Kang fan in the world. But I would say this. From the initial conceit of Deckard [Shaw], I’ve never really thought of him as a bad guy. He was definitely against our team but he’s a guy with a code who loves his family.”

    It sounds like we might get more background on Shaw ahead. Jason Statham told the Times he’s never been interested in playing some “villainous baddie that wants to blow up the world and steal all the money and the typical cliché villain type things.” He added:

    “It was really important for me to get involved on a level where I could get behind the character. And you know, that whole episode has not fully detailed exactly what happened. I’m not going to say anything more than that! But [Chris Morgan] likes to annoy the fans and please the fans and get all these angry protests. So, more to come.”

    Huh. And here’s some bad news for fans still hoping that Han didn’t die and is secretly alive out there: “He did die,” Morgan confirmed, and the Times noted that he sounded apologetic.

    So if Han is staying dead, will what Shaw did be justified somehow? There’s still time to turn this car around, now that the producers do understand how much fans still care about Han.

    The ninth and tenth “Fast” movies are scheduled for released on April 19, 2019, and April 2, 2021, respectively.

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