Whatever you think of the increasingly outlandish Fast & Furious franchise, the film series has put together an absolutely incredible cast over the last couple of decades. It’s a who’s who of action cinema from Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez to Jason Statham and John Cena, but it also has found a home for some absolutely iconic Hollywood stars including Helen Mirren and, most recently, Rita Moreno.
Moreno will debut later this month in the Fast X cast as Dominic Toretto’s grandmother. Speaking with Total Film (via SyFy), Moreno explains that it was, at least in part, due to her actual grandson that she ended up in the movie. He tried to convince Diesel that she would be perfect in the franchise. Moreno said…
We got together afterwards and had drinks. My grandson Justin, who is an enormous fan of his, collared Vin and said 'You really should have my grandmother in the movie. She could be the kind of feisty old woman that grabs you by the nose and tells you off.' Justin, to this day, is absolutely convinced that he cast me.
Moreno’s grandson, Justin Fisher, has talked about the same conversation with Diesel, and it’s clear that he absolutely does believe that the conversation that night, following the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, led to his grandmother being cast. It’s hard to imagine that it wasn’t a major contributor.
For what it’s worth, however, it sounds like Grandma Toretto won’t be quite the character that her grandson described. While Moreno does call her character “the boss” she also says she’s not the sort of grandmother who would grab you by the nose and tell you off.
While this conversation might have put the idea of casting Rita Moreno in Vin Diesel’s head, it’s hard to imagine that he actually required much convincing. While Vin Diesel looks like a walking brick wall, he is, by all accounts, actually a massive nerd and one of the things that he’s a fan of is classic Hollywood, specifically musicals. Diesel has expressed interest in doing a musical at some point and you have to believe he was already a massive Rita Moreno fan and would love to have her in his movie.
It’s a similar story to how Helen Mirren ended up in The Fate of the Furious, and later F9, though in that case the Oscar winner simply pitched herself to Vin Diesel. She made it clear she wanted to do a Fast & Furious movie, and when Helen Mirren says she wants to be in your movie, you just make that happen and don’t ask questions.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Rita Moreno impacts Fast X. As the franchise comes to a close the Toretto family is only expanding, and giving us a closer look at why family is so important.
