Trivia / Hobbs & Shaw

• Acting for Two: Ryan Reynolds portrays Agent Locke and also voices the ETEON director, albeit with his voice heavily modified so the part can be recast in a future film.
• California Doubling: The Samoa-set scenes were actually shot in Kaua'i. Glasgow also doubles for London in some shots.
• Common Knowledge: Keanu Reeves being initially announced as part of the cast, only for his character not to appear physically on the film, caused many rumors and speculations. Some news sites claimed he really joined production and shot scenes that were all deleted, while others said he was still in the final cut voicing the unseen character. In reality, he was never cast, and his role was voiced by Ryan Reynolds Acting for Two instead.
• Fake Nationality: Two of Luke's brothers aren't of Samoan descent in real life with Cliff Curtis being a Maori New Zealander and John Tui being a New Zealander of Tongan descent.
• Fake Russian:
  • Ukrainian arms dealer Madame M is played by Mexican actress Eiza González.
  • British actor Eddie Marsan plays the Russian Dr. Andreyko.
• Follow the Leader: This, along with the announcement that at least three spin-offs are planned alongside the main series in a Shared Universe, has made it clear that The Fast and the Furious film series is now Universal's official answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.^note After their first attempt with the Dark Universe crashed and burned in such a spectacularly embarrassing fashion. Going further, the sheer escalation of this movie, which pushes the series in full-on Science Fiction territory, draws the line closer. Brixton as the first full-on superhuman character who plans to make the whole world super in his Evil Plan sounds like something you would hear in an MCU movie rather than the older F&F movies which were about street racing and heists. Even the trailer's use of lighthearted comedy juxtaposing the action, with a classic song playing over it, does bring to mind the MCU.
• The Other Darrin: Hobbs' daughter, Samantha, was previously portrayed by Eden Estrella. In this film, she was replaced by Elina Su'a.
  • Same for the Latin Spanish dub. Samantha is voiced by Pamela Mendoza, replacing Varenka Carrillo.
• Real-Life Relative: Contrary to popular belief, Roman Reigns, who plays Hobbs' brother, is not related to Dwayne Johnson. However, The Rock's grandfather and Roman Reigns' grandfather were "blood brothers" and The Rock and Roman consider each other "cousins."
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Longtime Fast & Furious producer Neal Moritz was fired by Universal from this film and future Fast & Furious productions after the studio claimed he was uncooperative during negotiations over his compensation.
• Those Two Actors: Ryan Reynolds and Ron Delaney reunite from Deadpool 2 as CIA agents Locke and Loeb, who recruit our heroes into the plot.
• Throw It In!: According to Elba in an interview, the "Black Superman" line was an ad-lib. The director liked it so much he put it in the trailer, along with a follow-up line by Hobbs about being kryptonite.
• Underage Casting: Vanessa Kirby (Hattie) is nearly 21 years younger than Jason Statham (Deckard), yet flashbacks reveal that they were equals as children, as pointed out in this article. It is a rather strange decision to inflate Hattie's age and/or deflate Deckard's age, when keeping their ages relative to their actors would have been perfectly fine (Magdalene Shaw as played by Helen Mirren, who is exactly 22 years older than Statham, is not too early to have Deckard and not too late to have Hattie).
• Wag the Director:
  • Idris Elba refused to say a scripted line for his character, calling himself "the black James Bond." He instead used the phrase "black Superman". Elba has long been rumored to be in consideration for the role of James Bond, and would be the first black actor to portray Bond. Considering that line made it into the trailer, it seems the director didn't mind that much.
  • Statham and Johnson (alongside Vin Diesel in the mainline films) had clauses in their contracts stipulating that they could only take so many onscreen hits throughout the film.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Shane Black was considered to direct the film before David Leitch of Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 was hired.
  • Dwayne Johnson said he tried hard to get Jason Momoa to play the role of Hobbs' brother, but scheduling issues prevented it from happening. However, Dwayne gave fans hope for a future collaboration, adding, "Next Hobbs movie for sure." That said, the casting of Momoa as the villain of Fast X, the son of Herman Reyes who Hobbs killed, makes this a lot less likely. Ironically, Johnson's return to the franchise in that film will apparently lead to a Hobbs-based spin-off with Dante as the villain, meaning we will see the two on-screen together after all.
  • Johnson stated that Keanu Reeves was in talks to play the director of terrorist organization ETEON if things had worked out. He also expects to have Reeves inherit the role in future films.
    "What we did at the end was we left the ominous voice faceless. So, for some time, it was going to be a bit of a John Wick, all disguised. But then we left it there with a few people in mind. Originally, Keanu was the goal. We were talking, and it just didn't feel right creatively. He and I talked, and I totally got it. And it wound up being the best thing, so now we leave that open for the future."

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