Let this be a lesson to everybody: if there's something that you want, just ask for it. You never know, somebody may hand it to you on a silver platter. To be fair, it helps if you're a beloved celebrity with decades of classic films and awards in your background. About a year ago, Helen Mirren said she really wanted to be in a Fast and Furious movie, and lo and behold, she just confirmed that it's happening.
Dame Hellen Mirren recently sat down for an interview regarding her newest movie Eye in the Sky, which is hitting Blu-Ray later this month. She spoke to Elle about the importance of film and how she wants to be able to tell serious stories, and bring up important issues, such as the questions raised about the use of drones in warfare which is at the center of Eye in the Sky. Of course, not all films have to be strictly serious. It was at this point that Mirren revealed that her next movie will be solely for fun, which is ok too. She said:
...I'm about to do Fast and Furious 8. But that's for the fun of it. So maybe that's what I want as well, some fun and some relevant, serious, important movies.
Last year Helen Mirren told Yahoo that her "great ambition" was to be in a Fast and Furious movie. When this news got back to series star Vin Diesel, he was all for it. Exactly how long it took for this to go from a fun idea to an actual casting decision is unclear but either way, it's now happening. What's more, Mirren says that she accepted the role on the condition that she gets to actually do whatever driving her character needs to do in the film. It appears her love of driving is the main reason that she has wanted to join the Fast and Furious franchise. She says she did all of her own driving in the RED movies and very much wanted to do that again.
For what it's worth, when she made those comments about wanting to join Vin Diesel, she also said that she wanted to play the bad guy in the film, and as we're not sure anybody wants to tell Helen Mirren, "no." We can, at the very least, put her down as a strong possibility to play a villain in Fast 8. If that's the case, however, the wrong side of the law will quite crowded, as we know Charlize Theron is already on board to play a bad guy as well. We also expect Jason Statham to return.
Time will tell who has more fun: Helen Mirren playing her role in the next Fast and Furious movie, or the rest of us watching her do it. Fast 8 will be out in 2017.
