Trivia / The Fate of the Furious

• Actor-Shared Background: Hobbs has his daughter and her soccer team do a full on haka before a match, implying that Hobbs has the same Polynesian ancestry as Dwayne Johnson (later confirmed in Hobbs & Shaw).
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Dame Helen Mirren is a fan of the franchise and asked to be in the eighth film in any capacity. Sure enough she got cast as Magdeline Shaw.
• California Doubling: Despite a considerable portion of the film being set in New York City, the only actual filming that took place there was for second-unit B-Roll footage. Only "picture cars" were used for these scenes, and none of the lead actors were present for filming. All of the actual action sequences set there were filmed in Cleveland or Atlanta, given the logistical impossibility of closing down major streets in Manhattan for any extended length of time. In fact, it is very obvious that the New York car chase scene was not filmed on location as in Manhattan in real life most streets run in one direction while in the movie they are bidirectional.
• Cameo Prop:
  • When the crew is shown the garage of all the cars including the army tank, you can see Paul Walker's GTR that he drove in the 7th installment up on top of one of the 3 tier car racks. A subtle tribute to the late actor.
  • An unmodified Dodge Charger and a red Chevelle, cars Dom has used throughout the series, appear in the garage where the team meets after Dom seemingly betrays everyone.
• Creator Backlash: Both Sung Kang, who played Han, and Justin Lin, who directed the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and later returned for the ninth film, were not particularly happy with how the film glossed over the fact that Deckard Shaw caused Han's demise in the third film, as evidenced by their public approval of the #justiceforhan fan campaign to bring Han back in a later installment.
• Hostility on the Set: A week before filming ended, Dwayne Johnson posted an infamous message on Instagram, confirming that the production had endured its share of on-set frictions:
  "This is my final week of shooting #FastAndFurious8. There's no other franchise that gets my blood boiling more than this one. An incredible hard working crew. Universal has been great partners as well. My female co-stars are always amazing and I love 'em. My male co-stars however are a different story. Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't. The ones that don't are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I'm not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling - you're right. Bottom line is it'll play great for the movie and fits this Hobbs character that's embedded in my DNA extremely well. The producer in me is happy about this part. Final week on Fast 8 and I'll finish strong. ;/ #IcemanCometh #F8 #ZeroToleranceForCandyAsses".
  • The post came after Vin Diesel reportedly canceled some of Johnson's planned scenes at the last minute. On several occasions, Diesel had also reportedly refused to show up on set as he was scheduled, leaving hundreds of cast, crew and extras waiting on set for him for more than six hours. Diesel confronted Johnson in a secret meeting one day after Dwayne's message was posted online. Johnson later told The Hollywood Reporter that the meeting cleared up a few things. He confirmed that he and Diesel did not shoot scenes together because of "a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach filmmaking and collaborating", but that he was "grateful for that clarity". Although he did not provide details, it was later revealed that the announcement of Hobbs & Shaw was one of the main reasons for Diesel's behavior (as it would split up the franchise and delay the next Fast and Furious). Johnson stated that he would probably pass on the next film (and indeed, he did), but wished Diesel "all the best and I harbor no ill will there, just because of the clarity we have. Actually, you can erase that last part about 'no ill will.' We'll just keep it with the clarity".
  • This even extended to pre-production. James Wan was reportedly offered a "life-altering amount of money" to direct again, but he firmly refused because he couldn't take the strain to his mental health any longer.
• The Other Darrin: In the Latin Spanish dub, Manuel Campuzano voices Santos due to his other actor Óscar Flores having been cast for the part of Deckard Shaw.
• What Could Have Been: Lucas Black was going to reprise his role as Sean Boswell from the third film, likely joining Dom's team but Black's commitments on NCIS: New Orleans prevented him from appearing. He eventually returned to the series in F9, alongside two of his Tokyo Drift castmates.

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