Helen Mirren moves into the 'Fast 8' lane
Yes, you read that headline correctly: Oscar-winning actor and all-around badass Dame Helen Mirren is聽聽of the next聽Fast and Furious聽film,听诲耻产产别诲听Furious 8.听
The news comes a month after we聽聽of another Academy Award fave, Charlize Theron, in her role as聽Fast 8's聽villain, who is unfortunately named Cipher. (Which is about as ridiculous as calling a character Neo.) Details about Mirren's part haven't been widely discussed.
Having not just one but two Oscar-winners in聽Furious 8聽is a little curious--maybe even calculated. Could producers be digging for gold?
It's unlikely that a mainstream action film like聽Fast 8聽would take home a statuette next spring--especially this late in the franchise's history--but it's not entirely impossible. After all,聽Star Wars: The Force Awakens, nabbed聽, though it didn't win any of them.
That said, having a couple of Oscar-winners onboard won't hurt聽Furious 8's chances of at least nabbing a nod. And these aren't Marisa Tomei-caliber winners, either, but well-known, well-loved performers who, as they used to say in gangster flicks, really class up the joint.
But forget awards for a minute, because there's something even more remarkable about the casting of Mirren and Theron. It's the fact that both are women, and that they're featured prominently聽in a guns-and-gears movie.听
Not that that's a first for either actor. Theron won acclaim for her role as death-dealing desert driver Imperator Furiosa in聽Mad Max: Fury Road. And Mirren has appeared in both聽Red听补苍诲听Red 2, which fit squarely within the action genre.
However, those sorts of roles for women didn't exist until recently. Sure, there were some nice parts for female villains in film noir and in Bond flicks, and a few heroines showed up in the 1970s, played by actors like Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson, and Angie Dickinson.
That moment was fairly brief, though. Apart from Sigourney Weaver's notable presence in聽Alien聽films, seeing women as action leads has been rare. Let's hope Mirren and Theron are part of a trend with some staying power--like聽Fast and Furious听颈迟蝉别濒蹿.
This article first appeared at .
