The villains of the first seven Fast & Furious films have been, in order: Dominic Toretto’s racing rival, Johnny Tran; a Miami drug lord; the Yakuza; a Mexican drug lord; a Brazilian drug lord; a British guy; and Jason Statham. What you might have noticed as you read through that list — in addition to the fact that drug lords around the world have seen their empires crumble due to street racing — is that it’s just straight-up full of dudes. That could be a-changin.’ Multiple reports citing sources with knowledge now say that director F. Gary Gray is eyeing a female villain for Fast 8. And, apparently, he already has someone in mind: Charlize Theron.
There’s good news and bad news here.
GOOD: Charlize Theron was awesome in Fury Road and it would be a lot of fun to see her do battle with Vin Diesel and The Rock, even if these reports are so preliminary that no offer has been made and “she hasn’t seen any part of a script yet.” And if you’re a movie critic looking for an easy pun for your review, “Fast & Furiosa” is staring you right in the face.
BAD: Man, Helen Mirren really wanted to be the villain in Fast 8. She ran around telling anyone who would listen. Why didn’t they just let her have it? She’s earned it. She could have played Statham’s mom! Someone should start a petition.
