In much the same way that nearly every actor in Hollywood seems to have played a comic book superhero by now, it also seems that anybody who’s anybody has become part of the Fast and Furious franchise. Even classic Hollywood stars like Helen Mirren have become part of Dominic Toretto's extended family, and in Fast X former Academy Award winner Rita Moreno will follow suit, and the actress apparently has her grandson to thank for that one.
Rita Moreno, who appears in the new comedy 80 For Brady, walked the red carpet last week with her grandson Justin Fisher. Speaking with ET, Fisher revealed that it was actually a conversation with Diesel that he had that apparently led to Moreno being cast as Dominic Toretto’s grandmother. The two met following the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Fisher says he suggested his grandmother to Diesel. It seems that both Vin Diesel and Justin Fisher are all about "family." Fisher explained…
[Vin and I] caught up and grabbed drinks after the event, and he's so fond of my grandma. I told him, 'You should work with her. You should have her be your grandma, have her slap you upside the head. Have her have a little tone, because you know her, it's all tone.'
Without having seen anything from the forthcoming Fast X, I feel like knowing that Rita Morena will be appearing as grandma Toretto makes it all but certain there will be a scene where she slaps Dom upside the head. That feels like the one scene that would absolutely need to be in such a movie. If it's not there, what is even the point?
Of course, the other thing that a member of the Fast and Furious cast would need to do is get behind the wheel of a car and do some awesome driving. Moreno isn’t talking about exactly what she does in the film, so we don’t know if gets to drive around at high speed. When Helen Mirren first appeared in The Fate of the Furious, she didn’t get a cool car driving scene, but then she did get to drive in F9. Perhaps, if Rita Moreno gets to appear in both of the last two movies in the franchise, she’ll at least get to drive in one of them.
We may get an idea where Rita Moreno fits in Fast X when the first trailer for the film arrives, which is set to just be a few days from now. Fast X is set to be part one of a two-part finale for the franchise, though whether or not this will truly be the end is anybody's guess. Fast X opens in theaters on May 19, 2023.
