As per usual in the world ofThe Fast and Furious, the marketing has been perfectly paced and has been letting out just the right bits of information over the last few months. The last few dispatches have focused onthe eighth sequel shooting in Cuba, whichVin Dieseland directorF. Gary Grayhave called a historical moment in popular international filmmaking. Beyond that there’s been quite a lot of talk about the new cast members of the latest sequel of this insanely overextended franchise. Last time around,Kurt Russelljoined the team as the secretive government agent, known simply as Mr. Nobody, andJason Stathamplayed the role of the nearly invincible villain. Mind you, I said nearly.
This time around, Mr. Nobody has a protege who will be played byScott Eastwood, son of Clint, who is also set to appear in a supporting role inDavid Ayer’s anticipatedSuicide Squad. And then, more importantly, there’sCharlize Theron, who will be playing the big villain of Diesel’s team in the eighth film in the series, who now has the name of Cipher. ( By the way, can I get a memo on what to call this movie? There have been promo materials that have called it Fast 8 and Furious 8, and the press release refers to it as the “eighth chapter of theFast and Furioussaga.” C’mon, everybody!)
Regardless of not knowing what to call this movie, we now have our first image of Theron in her role, sporting a pretty dope Metallica tank-top and a bunch of big guns that I imagine she’ll be getting around to using.Furious 7was my favorite installment in the series so the…eighth chapter in theFast and Furioussaga has something to live up to here, and with Eastwood and Theron on board, the odds are looking good.
Here’s the image of Theron as Cipher:
