1 __ Ye s , Fast & Furious — the franchise
of muscle cars, and muscled stars —
is getting its irst spin-off, and it may
have found a director. David Leitch, the
stuntman-turned-ilmmaker behind John
Wick, Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 is
in early talks, according to Variety.2 __ Having attempted to out-bald
each other in three Fast & Furious
ilms, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and
Jason ‘The Stath’ Statham have both
signed up to the new ilm, reprising
their roles as Luke Hobbs and Deckard
Shaw, respectively.3 __ After his unlikely transformation
from cacklin’ baddie to grinnin’ goodie
in Fast & Furious 8, Shaw is likely to be
ighting arm-in-glistening-arm with
former sparring buddy Hobbs.4 __ The reason for their team-up? It’s
probably Charlize Theron. At the end
of the last Fast adventure, Theron’s
tech-savvy baddie Cipher escaped with
her life, inal whereabouts unknown.
The Variety report suggests we may
see Hobbs and Shaw join forces to
track her down.5 __ Chris Morgan, who has written
the last six ilms in the series, starting
with The Fast And The Furious:
Tokyo Drift, will again provide
a screenplay here.__A spin-off was irst mooted at
during the eighth instalment, when
test audiences reported positively to
The Rock and The Stath’s crackling
chemistry. Their chemistry was so
strong, in fact, that reports emerged
that Vin Diesel had killed a post-
credits scene featuring the pair,
according to The Wrap, supposedly
out of jealousy. (Diesel’s reps have
denied the story.)7 __ The ilm currently has a prime
summer blockbuster release date:
26 July 2019.8 __ That release date has pushed
Fast & Furious 9, the next regular
entry in the franchise, back by a year
to summer 2020.9 __ That release date change, and the
project in general, has mightily upset
series regular Tyrese Gibson (who plays
Roman Pearce). “If you move forward
with that Hobbs movie,” Gibson wrote
to Johnson in a now-deleted Instagram
post, “you will have purposely ignored
the heart to heart moment we had in
my sprinter.” He later threatened to
quit the series entirely.10 __ Despite the Furious family feud,
ilming on Hobbs And Shaw is due to
commence later this year. Coronas all
round! JOHN NUGENTRevupyour
engines for
The Rock and
The Stath’s new
adventure6
TEN THINGS
YOU NEED
TO KNOW
ABOUT...
THE FAST
AND FURIOUS
SPIN-OFF
(^) ROCKABUL
Directed by Travis Beard
Australian journalist Travis Beard leads us into
Kabul’s underground ex-pat party scene to meet
District Unknown, Afghanistan’s first and only
heavy metal band. Beard follows the group as
they struggle to have their voices — and blistering
music — heard among the bombs and bullets of
their war-torn country.
(^) FOXTROT
Directed by Samuel Maozwon
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2017 Venice
Film Festival, Foxtrot comes from Israeli director
Samuel Maozwon (who also won the the 2009
Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival for Lebanon).
An unflinching, daring look at grieving parents
after their soldier son is killed, Foxtrot has
amassed buzz for its audacious visuals, bold
attitude and utter fearlessness.
(^) WEST OF SUNSHINE
Directed by Jason Raftopoulos
A dodgy dad (Damien Hill) drags his son (Hill’s
real-life step-son, Ty Perham) around Melbourne to
pay off his outstanding gambling debts to a loan
shark in this sharp slice of social realism from
writer-director Jason Raftopoulos in his feature
film debut. Shot in inner-Melbourne (although
you’re unlikely to see any hipster baristas here.)