Helen Mirren is surely a versatile actress with a long line of diverse flicks in her colorful resume. Recently, she was signed in for the eighth installment of the hugely successful "Fast and the Furious" franchise. The British actress resume is not just about medieval Shakespeare-themed films. In fact, she also had her way with bombs, guns, and cars as her previous action flicks, RED and RED 2, attest.
As newest cast member to join Fast and Furious 8, Helen Mirren accepted her movie role on one condition: She should do her own driving in the film. Her latest addition to the car-and-stunts movie was confirmed on the film's official Twitter feed with Mirren's picture and a statement that stated, "It doesn't get better than this."
"I said, 'I'll be in it, but only if I'm allowed to drive if I do drive in it.' But we'll see. We'll see how it transpires. Film is a wonderful thing and it can be so many different things," said the 70-year-old actress as quoted by Elle Magazine.
As reported by the Guardian, the movie marks her first major action film role since Red and Red 2 co-starring with genre Hollywood veteran Bruce Willis. Mirren will join new cast members Charlize Theron and Scott Eastwood as well as the car action movie stalwarts Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and, of course, Jason Statham.
The franchise started in 2001 and has enjoyed tremendous big screen success ever since with a cocktail of fast cars, outrageous stunts, and explosive action sequences in exotic locations around the world. So far, Fast and Furious 7 was the most successful box office hit in the series raking more than $1.5 billion globally, BBC News reported.
Amid the enormous success over the years, the 2015 release of seventh installment was marred by the tragic passing of one the movie stalwarts, actor Paul Walker, who died in car crash just as the movie was nearing completion.
