43 Fun Facts About The Fate of the Furious

Who directed The Fate of the Furious?

F. Gary Gray, fresh from Straight Outta Compton, was announced as director in October 2015; he had earlier made Friday, Set It Off and the 2003 remake of The Italian Job.

Where are Dom and Letty on their honeymoon when the film opens?

Havana took approval from both the U.S. and Cuban governments before Universal could shoot there.

What does Dom do with the car he wins in the opening race?

Political economist Richard Feinberg called the Cuban sequence a Hollywood love letter and a parable of mutual respect.

Who plays the cyberterrorist Cipher?

Charlize Theron plays Cipher, the cyberterrorist who blackmails Dom; her casting was announced in April 2016, and she returned as the villain in F9 and Fast X.

Who plays the crew's tech expert Tej Parker?

Ludacris (Chris Bridges) plays Tej Parker, the crew's tech expert, a role he first took in 2 Fast 2 Furious in 2003; Tyrese Gibson plays his sparring partner Roman Pearce.

Where does Hobbs end up after the EMP mission goes wrong?

Hobbs is arrested after the EMP heist and lands in the same prison as Deckard Shaw; Mr. Nobody engineers their joint escape so both can join the hunt for Dom.

What is God's Eye, which Cipher steals from the team's base?

God's Eye is a mass surveillance program written by the hacker Ramsey that can find anyone through any camera; Cipher had earlier hired Mose Jakande (Furious 7) and Owen Shaw to obtain it and the Nightshade device.

Who plays Elena Neves?

Elsa Pataky, the Spanish actress, played Elena Neves from Fast Five (2011) onward, first as a Rio police officer; in this film Cipher has her shot dead in front of Dom.

What does Cipher send Dom to steal in New York City?

Cipher has Dom seize the Russian defence minister's nuclear football, the launch-code case, from his motorcade in Manhattan, hacking hundreds of cars into a 'zombie' swarm to block the streets.

Whom does Dom secretly recruit to rescue his son from Cipher's plane?

He offers to get her sons out of government custody in exchange; an Oscar-winning British dame plays her, uncredited.

Which actress makes her franchise debut as the Shaw brothers' mother?

Helen Mirren plays Magdalene 'Queenie' Shaw in an uncredited cameo, having publicly lobbied for a role in the franchise; she returned as the character in later instalments.

Who is Cipher's right-hand man, Connor Rhodes, played by?

Kristofer Hivju, Tormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones, plays Cipher's enforcer Connor Rhodes; Rhodes shoots Elena, and Dom kills him in the finale.

What does Dom activate at the Russian military base with the EMP?

Dom's EMP wakes a nuclear submarine that Cipher hijacks to start a nuclear war, and the team chases it across the ice in their cars.

How does Dom deal with the heat-seeking missile Cipher fires at his Charger?

The blast destroys the sub, and Dom shelters behind the family's cars as they form a wall around him.

What ranking on Interpol's most-wanted list annoys Roman?

Roman is miffed to learn he ranks only eleventh on Interpol's most-wanted list, just outside the top ten, a gag the crew keeps needling him about.

How does Cipher escape at the end?

She returns in F9 and Fast X, still played by Theron.

What does Dom name his son?

A tribute to Brian O'Conner, the character played by the late Paul Walker.

Why does Hobbs turn down getting his DSS job back?

Hobbs declines Mr. Nobody's offer to reinstate him at the Diplomatic Security Service, choosing to spend more time with his daughter Samantha, whose soccer team he coaches.

Who plays Little Nobody, the young agent working under Mr. Nobody?

Scott Eastwood plays Little Nobody, the by-the-book young agent assigned to the crew by Kurt Russell's Mr. Nobody; Eastwood's casting was announced in 2016.

Which character from the third film was contracted to appear but dropped out for NCIS: New Orleans?

Lucas Black's Sean Boswell, the Tokyo Drift lead, had signed in 2013 for Furious 7 and two sequels, but his NCIS: New Orleans schedule kept him out of this film; he returned in F9.

Which director was let go from the film after saying he wanted to make The Conjuring 2?

Universal offered the job back after Justin Lin chose a Star Trek sequel instead, but Wan declined, citing the toll Furious 7 had taken on his health.

Which film did Justin Lin choose to direct instead of returning to the franchise?

Lin, who had directed four Fast films in a row from Tokyo Drift to Fast & Furious 6, chose Star Trek Beyond (2016) over an eighth Fast film; he came back for F9.

What was the film's title when Vin Diesel first announced it at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards?

Diesel announced the film as Fast 8 at the Teen Choice Awards in August 2015, along with its April 2017 release date; the title The Fate of the Furious was revealed with the first trailer in December 2016.

Where did principal photography begin in March 2016?

Filming began on 14 March 2016 at Lake Mývatn in north-east Iceland, whose frozen surface stood in for the Russian ice-field finale, before the production moved on to Cuba and the United States.

Which U.S. city stood in for Manhattan during filming?

Cleveland stood in for Manhattan: the 'zombie car' motorcade chase was staged on its downtown streets in 2016, with additional exteriors shot in New York itself.

Who composed the score, returning after scoring the third, fourth, fifth and seventh films?

Tyler had skipped Fast & Furious 6, which was scored by Lucas Vidal.

Where did the film hold its world premiere?

April 4, 2017, ten days before the U.S. release; part of the plot is set in the city.

This was the first film in the series since which instalment not to feature Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner?

Tokyo Drift (2006) was the last entry without Brian O'Conner; after Paul Walker's death in 2013 the character was written out as retired at the close of Furious 7, and talk of brother Cody Walker stepping in came to nothing.

According to producer Neal Moritz, the film shifted the franchise's focus from heist movies to what?

Producer Neal Moritz described the film as shifting the series from heist movies toward spy films, with Cipher as a global cyberterrorist; Fast Five had earlier moved it from street racing to heists.

Roughly how much did The Fate of the Furious gross worldwide?

The Fate of the Furious grossed about $1.24 billion worldwide, the third-highest total of 2017 behind The Last Jedi and Beauty and the Beast, and the second franchise entry after Furious 7 to pass $1 billion.

What record did the film's worldwide debut set?

Its $541.9 million worldwide debut was the biggest global opening of all time at that point, beating the $529 million start of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Which film broke the worldwide opening record set by The Fate of the Furious?

Avengers: Infinity War took the record in April 2018 with a $640 million worldwide debut; before Fate, only The Force Awakens and Jurassic World had opened above $500 million globally.

Which country was by far the film's biggest market?

China was by far the biggest market, with an opening weekend of about $190 million and a total near $390 million, more than the film's entire North American run.

How much did the film take in its first three days in the U.S. and Canada?

The film opened to $98.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, well below Furious 7's $147.2 million debut two years earlier, while overseas it opened to about $443 million.

The director broke his own Straight Outta Compton record for the biggest what by a Black filmmaker?

The $98.8 million opening weekend beat the $60.2 million debut of Straight Outta Compton, the director's previous record for a Black filmmaker; Black Panther surpassed both in 2018.

Which Marvel film, also starring Diesel and Russell, knocked it off the top of the international chart?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, in which Diesel voices Baby Groot and Kurt Russell plays Ego, opened overseas in late April 2017 and ended Fate's two-week run atop the international chart.

In which country did the film open in third place, behind Beauty and the Beast?

In Japan the film opened in third place behind Beauty and the Beast and a Detective Conan anime, though its $7.5 million debut was a franchise record in the country.

What was the film's Rotten Tomatoes approval rating?

Audiences gave it an A CinemaScore; IndieWire called it the worst entry in the franchise.

Which spin-off followed in 2019 after the chemistry between Johnson and Statham was praised?

Hobbs & Shaw, released in August 2019 with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprising their roles, was the franchise's first spin-off feature and grossed about $760 million worldwide.

Who plays the hacker Ramsey?

Nathalie Emmanuel, Missandei in Game of Thrones, plays the hacker Ramsey, who joined Dom's crew in Furious 7 and is hunted along with the rest of the team by Cipher here.

Who plays Owen Shaw?

Luke Evans plays Owen Shaw, the villain of Fast & Furious 6, who returns in this film to help his brother Deckard board Cipher's plane.

Which two reggaeton stars return in The Fate of the Furious as Leo and Santos, former members of Dom's crew?

Tego Calderón and Don Omar had last ridden with Dom's crew in Fast Five, after debuting in the short Los Bandoleros.

How many screenplays had Chris Morgan written for the franchise with this film?

This was the sixth franchise screenplay by Chris Morgan, who had written every entry since Tokyo Drift (the third through eighth films), usually alongside producer Neal H. Moritz.