Launched in 2017, Fast & Furious 8 was known for having a very turbulent production. And when it comes to this franchise, it’s really complicated to know that there was a film with more problems to deal with than 7, which saw one of the protagonists die during his break in a car accident.
The backstage fights caused some headaches and caused a split among part of the cast. With that in mind, CinePOP has selected ten interesting facts that you may not know about the film. Check out!
Love is over
Fast & Furious 8 there was a huge complication behind the scenes due to a childish ego dispute between Vin Diesel e The Rock. At the last minute, Vin understood that his friend’s character would be gaining more prominence in the series than his, so he decided to cut some scenes and developments from Luke Hobbs, which clearly displeased The Rock. Outraged, the actor took to Instagram, where he made a post airing dirty laundry, in which he said: “This is my last week of filming #FastAndFurious8. There is no other series that makes my blood boil more than this one. An incredible and hard-working team. Universal has also been a great partner. My co-stars are always amazing and I love it. My co-stars, however, are a different story. Some behave like honorable men and true professionals, while others do not. Those who don’t are too cowardly to do anything about it anyway. Big asses. When you go see this film next April and it looks like I’m not acting in some of the scenes, it looks like my blood is boiling with real anger – you’ll be right. In short, it will work very well for the film and fits very well with this Hobbs character, which is already part of my DNA. The producer in me is happy with that part. Final week in Fast 8 and I’m going to finish strong. ;/ #IcemanCometh #F8 #ZeroToleranceForCandyAsses.” The post has been deleted.
A trick
Behind the scenes of this film was pure controversy. Vin Diesel repeatedly arrived late to film sets, leaving his co-workers waiting for hours to do scenes. Because of this, there are practically no scenes between Toretto and Hobbs. The ‘split’ became unsustainable when Vin discovered that the Universal gave the green light to the spin-off of the saga starring The Rock e Jason Statham: Hobbs & Shaw. The actor had his ego hurt and justified a possible delay in Fast & Furious 9 to boycott.
However
Due to political clashes and the economic embargo, Hollywood spent more than half a century without filming in Cuba. However, Universal managed to negotiate directly with the Cuban authorities and briefly filmed on the island. This action made it the first studio feature to have scenes shot there since the 1950s.
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Chaos
To create the scenes on the island, the North American team completely changed the layout of Havana’s streets. The filming routine was described by some residents as chaotic, especially drivers from Cuba, who had to make detours and look for alternative routes. Some of the comments given to the international press had the tone of complaint, such as: “They came and took away our peace”.
Improvisation
One of the highlights of the film is the relationship between Hobbs e Shaw. This chemistry between them came from greater creative freedom given to The Rock and Jason Statham for direction. The film’s most famous improvisation is the scene in which Hobbs says he’s going to punch Shaw so deep in the mouth that he’ll have to stick a brush up his ass to brush his teeth. The line caught Statham so off guard that laughter was inevitable. The directors liked it so much that they decided to keep it in the final cut.
To stop traffic
Vin Diesel’s idea was to close important streets to record the film. The actor’s initial idea was to have a very important scene recorded on the main highway of Greater Manila, the capital of the Philippines. However, knowing that it would be impossible to close the country, the Philippine government refused to participate in the franchise.
New York more or less
The same happened with New York City, which is the setting for the final action sequence. Vin Diesel’s idea was to close the city’s main tracks to record his chase, which obviously wasn’t possible. So, they recorded some scenes in New York with what they got from permission and simulated NY on the tracks in Atlanta and Cleveland, which weren’t as chaotic as the ‘Big Apple’. It was something similar to what they did in Rio de Janeiro. However, Rio featured some stars filming, leaving the action scenes to be recreated in Puerto Rico. New York practically did not have any famous actors to avoid delaying filming.
Tributes
Died before the end of filming for film 7, Paul Walker remains alive in the series, although his character has never appeared since. Film 8 makes a point of mentioning that Brian is living out there, far from a life of crime, and even pays homage to the character when Toretto decides to name his son Brian, something that, according to the screenwriter, Chris Morganit was more than natural for a “family man” like Dom.
Pontinha
During the launch party for Fast & Furious 7 (2015), in London, the incredible Helen Mirren He said in several interviews that he would love to make a small appearance in the franchise. Later, in some Talk Shows, the actress would again reinforce her interest in being in the saga of Toretto and his family. Knowing about this ‘dig’, Vin Diesel asked them to write a character just for her, which became part of the franchise already in Fast & Furious 8 and never left.
Total success
Fast & Furious 8 It was a slap in the face to those who continued to speak badly about the franchise, because it ended up grossing an impressive 1.239 billion dollars. More than that, it was the 30th film in US history to have a box office gross of more than US$1 billion. As a result, it became the second highest grossing film in the saga, second only to its predecessor, Fast & Furious 7 (2015), which made more than US$1.5 billion.
Fast & Furious 8 is available on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Star+ e Telecine.