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Fast 8 Director Responds To The “Threat” From Michelle Rodriguez

By Sanjoy Alexander

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 08: Actor Michelle Rodriguez attends 'The Fate Of The Furious' New York Premiere at Radio City Music Hall on April 8, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 08: Actor Michelle Rodriguez attends 'The Fate Of The Furious' New York Premiere at Radio City Music Hall on April 8, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images) /
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F. Gary Gray who directed Fast 8 found it right to express his thoughts on Michelle Rodriguez’s threat to leave the Fast and Furious franchise.

So Michelle Rodriguez isn’t that happy with how women are being sidelined in the Fast and Furious movies. We aren’t picking sides here. But despite the fact that she got to have a pretty good character throughout the series from being the leading lady to a secondary antagonist, the actress still went ahead and posted on Instagram on her unhappiness with how the series isn’t giving its ladies enough importance. Now, the director of Fast 8, F. Gary Gray has come forward with a response.

Not attacking or condemning the actress for expressing her thoughts, Gray emphasized how his movie – The Fate of the Furious – treated female characters on par with their male equivalents. In an interview with EW while promoting the digital release of Fast 8, the director said,

"I have nothing but love for Michelle. That is something I imagine she’s addressing with the powers that be. I hope it all really works out for her. I can only speak for one film. I’ve only directed one film. I think with Fate of the Furious in particular, I think we did a pretty damn good job with how we treated the women. Especially given that Charlize Theron, I believe, delivered one of the best performances from an antagonist in the franchise. I got a chance to work with Helen Mirren — who was awesome, she has a great cameo — and Charlize, Michelle, Nathalie Emmanuel. You can’t really speak for each individual character, but I thought there was a strong performance from everyone involved."

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 08: Actor Michelle Rodriguez attends ‘The Fate Of The Furious’ New York Premiere at Radio City Music Hall on April 8, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 08: Actor Michelle Rodriguez attends ‘The Fate Of The Furious’ New York Premiere at Radio City Music Hall on April 8, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images) /

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While he neither has to comment nor has to defend the rest of movies in the franchise, F. Gary Gray made it clear that his movie was balanced when it comes to presenting and handling female characters. The primary antagonist was a powerful female character played by Charlize Theron, and Helen Mirren was also around in an important cameo. And the latter’s character was one which wielded power and influence over some of the heavyweights in the movie, with all the hints of being a major player in the expanding Fast and Furious movieverse.

And to top it all, Fast 8 is the only Fast and Furious movie where Michelle Rodriguez got to shine without being in the shadow of Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto. In fact, she was such a treat of watch in the latest movie.

Next: Michelle Rodriguez May Leave Fast And Furious Franchise

Now it remains to be seen on how the rest of te decision makers of the Fast and Furious franchise are going to respond to the actress’ statement. If Michelle Rodriguez ends up leaving the franchise citing “creative differences”, then it implies that things didn’t work out as she had hoped and that she will no longer be a part of the “family”.

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