Hobbs and shaw
Fast & Furious zooms in a new direction
Johnson and Statham team up and spin off.
Director David Leitch
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Eddie Marsan
“It’s really hard work to take on a movie this size,” says David Leitch the morning before a day’s shoot on Hobbs And Shaw at London’s Shepperton Studios. “There’s a lot of expectations. You have a lot of action going on. You have a lot of story canon to comb through and make sure that you’re being reverent to. There’s a lot of story to tell. And action… action takes time.”
Not that Leitch sounds downbeat. After all, he knows a thing or two about marshalling action having directed John Wick (with Chad Stahelski), Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2, and having started his career in stuntwork, founding ‘action design’ company 87eleven with Stahelski. His latest gig marks a change of direction for the Fast & Furious series, which – at eight films in – has become Universal’s biggest franchise. Leaving aside Vin Diesel’s Dom and the family for the time being, this spin-off focuses on the odd-couple pairing of retired Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and kinda-reformed mercenary Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham).
The pair have had crackling antagonist chemistry in the last couple of films, and it looks like they’re going to have to reluctantly team up again. “I can’t get into the plot, but I think it’s more that we’re going to go on an extended, exciting ride with these two beloved characters of the franchise who were always at odds,” Leitch tells TF. “I think of the classics like Lethal Weapon or 48 Hrs., or some of these ’80s and ’90s buddy-cop movies – that dynamic that was fostered in the original [F&F] franchise, we’re going to take and expand the whole world around it. So we’re going to learn more about Hobbs’ past and his connections and his family, and we’re going to learn more about Shaw and his world.”
Extending the Shaw family further will include Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Crown) as Shaw’s sister Hattie, an MI6 operative. “In simple words, she brings a badass character to the franchise,” explains Leitch. Also on the newcomer roster is Idris Elba, who plays bad guy Brixton. Elba’s
recently teased that “I have to work out a little more”, sharing a set with Johnson and Statham, but Leitch says there’s “such positive camaraderie” between the cast’s alpha males.
“Idris has been such an amazing addition to the cast,” adds the director. “Not only with his physicality, which stands up to Hobbs and Shaw. It’s like, how do you find an actor that can do that? But then, with his acting style, it’s helping you carve a character, a villain who’s worthy of this world.” With series regular Chris Morgan on screenplay duties (he’s been with the franchise since part three), Hobbs And Shaw picks up after Fast & Furious 8, and will share DNA with the previous films while marking out its own rubber-burning path.
“We wanted to make sure that we can make a movie that sat comfortably in the Fast world but was distinctly its own,” says Leitch. “And I think we’re on the road to doing it. Cars play a huge element in the Fast world, so we’re playing with cars and vehicle action. But again, our guys aren’t street racers. They’re from the agency world, and we’re building up their world, so we can diversify the action and have fun in all different ways.” MM HOBBS AND SHAW OPENS ON 2 AUGUST.
‘We’re going on an exciting ride with these beloved characters’ David Leitch