During an interview on the red carpet at San Diego Comic-Con, actress Michelle Rodriguez described the upcoming sequel to the Fast & Furious franchise as the “French Fast & Furious.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the French angle to Fast X, the 10th installment of the original movie series, comes from French filmmaker Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk). Leterrier stepped into the driver’s seat earlier this year when original director Justin Lin, who directed five of the previous films, had a “major disagreement” with star Vin Diesel and quit the production.
Now, with Leterrier behind the wheel, Rodriguez says his French connection impacted some departments on the Fast & Furious set. “Our special effects team, all of the guys doing the fights, are all French,” Rodriguez said. “Our second AD is French. Our director’s French. It’s like the French takeover, dude.”
Whether that’s a selling point for American audiences, we’re not quite sure yet, but Rodriguez did explain that Leterrier “came with all this energy of love” and referred to him as “so dope.”
“We haven’t had that in Fast and Furious for a very long time where we get somebody excited who’s a real fan and who really wants to take it places that it hasn’t gone before,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve been at it for 20 years, bro. After all that time, you get jaded and kind of forget what you do it for [until] a director like Louis comes in and reminds you, ‘This is beautiful. Let’s go make magic.’ We’re so lucky to have him, bro.”
Earlier this year, Rodriguez and Diesel welcomed Oscar winner Rita Moreno (West Side Story) to the Fast & Furious family. In Fast X, Moreno will play the grandmother to Diesel’s character, Dom Toretto.
