Johnson extended an arm wide as he does in one of the film’s most heightened action scenes, reaching for an invisible tether. In addition to new characters and deeper backstories, the spinoff moves into action-comedy territory, punctuated by zippy exchanges and surprise cameos. But while the never-mentioned Dominic Toretto is presumably living his life a quarter mile at a time elsewhere in the world - Justin Lin is currently directing “Fast 9,” with an ensemble anchored by original “Fast and Furious” stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez - “Hobbs & Shaw” takes the audience on a two-hander adventure from Shaw’s hometown of London to Hobbs’ childhood home in Samoa, with a stop for intrigue and over-the-top action in a secretive Chernobyl bunker.ĭirected by stunt pro-turned-helmer Leitch (“Atomic Blonde,” “Deadpool 2") and written by Morgan and Drew Pearce, the story tracks Johnson’s Hobbs and Statham’s British former black ops baddie Deckard Shaw as they reluctantly team up to take on Idris Elba’s Brixton Lorr, a cybernetically enhanced super soldier trailing Shaw’s MI6 spy sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), who is in possession of a dangerously powerful biological weapon. Johnson and Jason Statham reprise the characters they’ve played in several installments of the “Fast” cinematic universe. It’s what makes it special, and if you didn’t have that it wouldn’t be ‘Fast.’ ” Spinoff chemistry For me, the greatest thing about the ‘Fast’ films are that they represent global culture, positivity, family, heroism and that sense of inclusion and belonging. “You get the sense that if the audience were transported into that world, that crew would accept them. “We always want the films to be reflective of the world, culturally,” said producer, screenwriter and “Fast and Furious” architect Chris Morgan, noting that inclusivity has been both organic and essential to the multicultural Universal franchise. “It was our way of paying homage and honoring a culture that I’m very proud of, and that has been responsible for teaching me defining values throughout the years,” he told The Times a few days later ahead of a whirlwind press tour. “‘Oh, Mama, are you okay?’ and give her hugs.” “After the take - it’s so beautiful and I’ll never forget this - all the guys go over to her,” he added. As I’m calling, I’m speaking to God and to atua, and we start our movements and I say, ‘ This will be the last face you see before you die,’ and she’s bawling. She’s never heard me speak in Samoan to that extent. “The mama’s doing the ugly cry! I didn’t show her any rehearsals. “I look over and she is bawling,” Johnson says, grinning as he recounts the moment during a recent stop in Los Angeles. In it, Johnson’s Hobbs, his traditional tattoos glistening under the night sky, roars alongside his brothers in arms, calling upon their ancestors. The scene serves as the crackling prelude to a sequence in which Hobbs and his estranged brothers reconcile to face down a threat to humanity as they know it, by daisy-chaining a row of speeding, tricked-out vintage trucks to a helicopter while careening along the edge of a cliff (well, it is a “Fast & Furious” movie).
With this in mind, Leitch filmed only a few takes rather than the countless coverage angles typical of a blockbuster shoot of this size and scale. And as a sacred cultural tradition, Johnson told Leitch it warranted sensitivity. This siva tau was special, created specifically for the film with the aid of Samoan cultural consultants.
Johnson, in character as Luke Hobbs, the brawny American lawman he’s played since “Fast Five,” had just led an ensemble of fellow Polynesian actors, including Cliff Curtis and WWE’s Roman Reigns, in a siva tau, or Samoan war dance. But not even the WWE superstar known in the ring as The Rock was steeled for what he saw after director David Leitch called “Cut!” on one of the most pivotal scenes in the “Fast & Furious” spinoff. The day Dwayne Johnson’s mother came to visit the Kauai set of “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” emotions were already high.