Helen Mirrenis officiallyFast & Furiousroyalty.
“Yes, she gets to drive.
It’s so awesome.
Helen Mirren and Vin Diesel in ‘F9’.Universal Pictures
She gets to drive, and she gets to drive sleek.”
So what is it that you love aboutFast?
So it’s fantastic that people can now go and just have a great night in the theater.
Vin Diesel and Helen Mirren in ‘The Fate of the Furious’.Universal Pictures
I think people are really going to enjoy it.
Actually, quite a lot.
It could have gone in any direction.
As we say in England, ducking and diving, but with great strength and great character and intelligence.
Before you came aboard, did you have a favorite movie from the series?
I wasn’t honestly that familiar in a sense with the series.
I wasn’t an aficionado in knowing all the characters and the stories.
I saw [The Fast and the Furious], and I really, really enjoyed it.
But I had this incredible urge to drive a car fast in a movie.
Ahead ofF9, did you have to campaign at all for that?
Oh, I didn’t campaign.
I whined, I moaned, I cried, I sniffled.
I know, I couldn’t believe it.
So what was that like?
You did have the benefit of being on your home streets of London.
I have to say, it was slightly intimidating.
They know it, and it’s all a bit new to me, the technicality of it.
Not the driving part, but the filming of the driving.
But you’re in very safe and loving hands when you’re in aFast & Furious.
It was just great to be in a very small space with Vin Diesel for quite a long time.
I just loved every minute.
Oh, I just so love his voice.
He’s got the best voice ever.
There seems to be a bit of flirtatious energy between the two of you in the film.
Is that something you two were actively playing up, or is that just natural chemistry?
That’s completely natural chemistry.
It was there right from the very beginning of my first meeting with Vin.
And I just adored him immediately, and he’s always been so kind and lovely to me.
So it was there right from the beginning, and it is very weird.
There’s never an explanation for it.
It’s just one of those things that happens.
Has he run this by you, or are we breaking this news?
No, but what a great idea.
He’s absolutely right, that would be absolutely genius.
My mum was a very East End working-class woman, and Michael absolutely comes from that world as well.
And I have worked with Michael before, actually quite a long time ago.
We were in the same film together and he played my husband who passed away during the film.
I think right there we might have it.
We haven’t met Papa Shaw yet, so maybe you and Michael bring back that husband-wife dynamic!
We haven’t seen Papa Shaw and he’s going to be terrifying.
I can only imagine.
I’d love to work with her again.
She’s such a talent and lovely girl.
AndF9is full of so many badass women.
Wouldn’t that be good?
That’s the great thing aboutFast & Furious.
Of course it’s about cars, and boys love cars, for sure.
Also, girls love cars!
The next generation of girls need to see that and they are beginning to.
And I do as many as my stunts that I physically can.
I love flying, for example, when they haul you up on a rope and you’re flying.
We see the zip-lining inF9with John Cena’s character.
Zip-lining, wouldn’t that be fantastic?!
You’ve managed to be a bit of the connective tissue between the mainFastseries and the spin-offHobbs & Shaw.
Have you had any conversations about what’s next?
No, I just put myself in their hands.
If they want me, I’m absolutely standing there first in line.
But if the stories go a different way, that’s understandable.
Working with Jason, Jason is the most incredibly professional, hardworking actor to work with.
He’s just so committed, so professional.
All of these people, they’re great to work with.
And Vanessa was wonderful, funny, and a great girl.
And the atmosphere on the sets of these movies has always been fantastic.
[Laughs]
And that’s when you fly!
We’ll take more of Queenie in whatever fashion.
I love to hear you calling her Queenie because I gave her that name.
I had an auntie Queenie.
One of my mother’s sisters was called Queenie, which is a very old East End name.
We’re a very different person from a very different background.
So I love the fact my auntie Queenie has become a part of theFast & Furious.
She’d be amazed if she knew.
