Charlize Theron Didn’t Have A Director For Her Fast X Fight Scene, Costar Confirms
Charlize Theron and Michelle Rodriguez had no director for their Fast X fight scene and put it together themselves.
Charlize Theron and her Fast X co-star Michelle Rodriguez have a massive fight scene in the upcoming film that Rodriguez confirms was shot without a director. The fight caught the eyes of fans in the official trailer for the tenth entry into the more than twenty-year-old franchise, along with a first look at Brie Larson and Jason Momoa in their new roles. But as Variety reports, the fistfight between the series veterans stole the show, whether there was a director on set for the epic scene or not.
Rodriguez says she and Charlize Theron helped carry the Fast X production through its roughly one-week period without a primary director in part by shooting their scene with only some help from a second unit director. The latest entry in the street racing-turned-high action series was to have been directed by Justin Lin, who has helmed half of the franchise’s movies, but he departed within days over creative differences. That left new director Louis Leterrier with only four days to prepare to shoot the film, including rewriting most of the script.
Thankfully, Charlize Theron’s fight scene with Michelle Rodriguez was left in the new version of Fast X because the two actors clearly put everything they had into making it a memorable bout. In her Variety interview, Rodriguez calls her co-star a “monster” in the scene—”no pun intended,” she says—reportedly delivering an impressive performance through a dedication to her work that left her longtime teammate with nothing but admiration. For her part, Rodriguez is glad for the directorial shift, saying that Leterrier was a great support and brought a freshness to the the process that reminded the cast and crew why they make these films.
Charlize Theron is of course no stranger to action films, including Fast X and its previous installments, as her Atomic Blonde sequel appears to be taking shape, possibly at Netflix. No word yet on whether the star will definitely head up a Fast and Furious spin-off centered around the female characters, but she seems open to the idea and perfectly capable of taking the lead in such a cast. In the meantime, Leterrier’s contribution to the franchise seems to be firing on all cylinders and set to give audiences things they haven’t seen before, if that can be believed with all the heights to which these movies have already gone.
Vin Diesel, Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, and the rest of the Fast X cast, including newcomers Larson and Jason Momoa, were reportedly in very good hands with the famed director of Now You See Me and The Transporter. As not only the film’s director but, at the studio’s behest, its rewriter, Leterrier has delivered a story with an ending that shocked Rodriguez and that, she says, will possibly leave Fast fans a little furious but wanting more. When a film series has rained cars, flown cars, and pitted cars against helicopters and buses against cliffs, it can be difficult, we imagine, to come up with action set pieces that awe an audience, and Rodriguez’s description leaves us thinking this latest surprise could be regarding what really keeps fans of the series coming back—its characters.
