By Osman Faruqi
Rome: Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren and other members of the cast of Fast X, the latest instalment in the popular two-decades-long Fast & Furious franchise, have called on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognise the work of stunt professionals by creating a new category at the Oscars.
Universal Pictures presents the “FAST X Road To Rome” at Colosseo.Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Universal Pictures
At a lively press conference in Rome on Friday night (AEST), held ahead of the Fast X premiere, the star-studded cast of the action franchise, which now includes four Oscar-winners including Mirren, Rita Moreno, Charlize Theron and Brie Larson, made the appeal while discussing working on the film, and the important role stunt professionals play in production.
After discussing a bruising fight scene between her character and one played by Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, who has been part of the franchise since the first film was released in 2001, called for stunt performers to be given their own category at the annual Academy Awards.
Mirren echoed the call, adding that both those who design and execute stunts should be rewarded for their efforts with awards.
Mirren and Rodriguez join a growing list of significant Hollywood figures calling for the Oscars to recognise the work of stunt professionals.
Helen Mirren attends the “FAST X Road To Rome” premiere at Colosseo in Rome.Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Universal Pictures
Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger have publicly called for a stunt category at the Oscars and, more recently, Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski, the lead actor and director in the John Wick franchise, have made similar calls.
The campaign for stunt performers to be recognised by the Academy goes back decades, but despite the growing momentum, it doesn’t look like change is on the horizon.
Nearly the entire cast of Fast X, the 10th film in the franchise, were present at the press conference, held hours before the film’s global premiere and a red carpet event at the Colosseum.
Moreno and Mirren both shared stories of begging Vin Diesel, who both stars in the films and produces them, to let them join the cast. Diesel jumped out of his seat at various points to ask the cast his own questions. He also led the assembled press into giving multiple standing ovations in honour of the cast, who he described as “the greatest ever assembled”.
The Fast & Furious franchise is heavy on stunts – and the cast says professionals working in the field should be rewarded.
“When we filmed this movie, every day on set, we reminded ourselves it was a miracle,” Diesel said. “When I see this movie, I’m affected by everyone who made it, everyone who works on it, the cast, the crew, the studio.”
The Fast & Furious franchise has grossed nearly $10 billion over the past two decades. While the films started as relatively humble affairs, focused on street racing, they’ve grown to become a mega action franchise more reminiscent of spy thrillers like James Bond. In Fate of the Furious, the eighth instalment, the film’s heroes race against a nuclear submarine. In F9, two longtime characters fly a car into space.
Fast X is the penultimate film in the series, but if it performs well at the box office, there will likely be speculation about future instalments and spinoffs.
Fast X is in cinemas on May 18.
The reporter travelled to the Fast X premiere in Rome as a guest of Universal Pictures.
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