After joking that she’d like a role alongside Vin Diesel in the Fast and Furious franchise, Helen Mirren ended up joining the cast of the highly anticipated eighth instalment earlier this year.
However, the actress has revealed that while she begins shooting next week, she unfortunately won’t have the opportunity to get behind the wheel with the rest of the cast.
“I’m very nervous,” she admits, “because when you’re going on to a set with people who have been doing this for [so long], basically, they all know each other, they’ve worked together, they know what they’re doing. I’ll be, you know, the newcomer, the newbie.”
“I’ve only got one day, and I’ll probably f— it up. I think they’ll be nice to me. I hope they’ll be nice to me. I wanted to be driving, but unfortunately, I’m not. Maybe that will come in the future, in Fast and Furious 12. I’m probably one of the few people on the set who know how to drive a gear shift car. I doubt the Rock knows. But I do. I know how to double declutch.”
If Mirren is only shooting for one day, this is clearly going to be little more than a cameo appearance, but it should be interesting to see whether or not her scenes set up a larger role in the next Fast and Furious movie. Who knows, she could very well be in the after-credits scene like Jason Statham was a few instalments back setting him up as the new big bad.
Time will tell, but here’s hoping more about Fast and Furious 8 will be revealed soon.
