Filming action movies on location can be tough. You’re against the elements, sometimes in extremely harsh conditions, to get the best sequence possible. Tyrese Gibson, part of the Fast and Furious movies, isn’t a fan off the cold, and was resistant to working in Iceland.
The Fate of the Furious, from 2017, required a few days in the European country for a chase towards the end involving Dom and the crew outpacing a submarine. It’s wild, but Gibson didn’t love the notion of an Icelandic holiday. “It was just cold, man. 30 below zero. You know, I’m ghetto as hell, South Central L.A. Black people don’t like cold weather, man,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “They put me in Iceland, got me standing on frozen lakes. Everything that’s considered the polar opposite of who I am and where I’m from, that was Iceland.”
He looked into options for maybe doing his parts from the US, but to no avail. “My first question was, ‘Can you all CGI me in? Can you all put up a greenscreen? I’m happy to act like I’m in Iceland’,” he said. “They weren’t having it.”
Computer-generated imagery has come a long way, but there’s no replicating getting all your actors in one place. Fast and Furious characters are at their peak together, even when that means a snow holiday in March.
Gibson is set to return for Fast and Furious 10, the first in a two-part blowout conclusion for the franchise. Louis Leterrier is directing, after Justin Lin stepped down, and vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Jason Momoa, Jason Statham, and Sung Kang are among the ever-growing ensemble cast.
Fast and Furious took a brief trip to space last time, suggesting we’ll get even more interstellar next instalment. Maybe Gibson will make an exception for some galactic tourism!