The Fate of the Furious Opens With Epic Race in Cuba

Last week we shared this clip from The Fate of the Furious of Dom (Vin Diesel) in an old school drag race that would have been thrilling even if the vintage car he was driving wasn’t on fire. It turns out that this scene, which was filmed in Cuba (The Fate of the Furious is the largest American production to ever shoot in the country) is the opening set piece of the film. HBO went down to Cuba during production and shot this behind-the-scenes featurette, which includes Michelle Rodrigeuz (she’s played Letty since the very first The Fast & Furious) explaining that this opening scene harkens back to the film’s origins, before Dom and his crew blew up into globe-trotting vigilantes and began driving their cars out of the back of cargo plans…in mid-air. Check out HBO’s video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z31LphqJWd0

Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray is at the wheel for the franchise’s 8th outing, after 2015’s mega blockbuster Furious 7, one of the fastest movies to reach $1 billion worldwide in box-office history and the sixth-biggest global title of all time. The Fate of the Furious opens with everyone in a seeming state of repose. Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) are on their honeymoon, Brian (the late Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) have retired from the game, and the rest of the crew has been exonerated. Naturally this can’t last. A woman who goes by Cipher (Charlize Theron) manages to seduce Dom and get him to turn on his crew, pitting him against his oldest friends (and foes, like Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw).

The Fate of the Furious follows the globetrotting exploits of the previous films, with the action taking place in Cuba, New York City and off the arctic Barents Sea, no less. The gang knows Cipher must have something on Dom to have made him turn, so they’ll stop at nothing to get him back, and stop her nefarious plans in the process. Joining Diesel, Rodriguez, Statham and Theron are Kurt Russell, Lucas Black, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Helen Mirren, to name a few.

The Fate of the Furious roars into theaters on April 14, 2017. 

Featured image: VIN DIESEL stars as Dom in "The Fate of the Furious." Photo Credit: Universal Pictures