Rita Moreno is ready to get fast and furious, as it was announced Tuesday the Oscar-winning actress is joining the highly anticipated Fast X.
Franchise superstar Vin Diesel shared the news via a video on his Instagram page. The EGOT-winning actress will play Dominic Toretto’s (Diesel) grandmother.
“It’s been my dream forever to work with Rita Moreno, and the fact that she’s here playing my grandmother makes my soul smile,” Diesel said in the video, which features him sitting between Moreno and co-star Michelle Rodriguez. “I’m so blessed.”
The West Side Story icon said she was just as elated to be joining the franchise in that specific role. “You know what, I think I was getting … I think my old age was waiting for you to invite me. Isn’t that nice? And I’m here. And the answer is yes, I’ll do it.”
The Moreno news comes weeks after Louis Leterrier was named the new director of the film, replacing Justin Lin, who abruptly left the job just days into shooting. He remains on the project as a producer.
Lin, who returned to the franchise with F9: The Fast Saga (2021) after having previously directed the third through sixth films in the long-running series, had been set to direct both the 10th and 11th films, with the 11th planned as the final Fast installment.
The Fast films have proved to be some of the most lucrative IP in contemporary studio filmmaking and stand as the biggest franchise for Universal. The movies have a combined box office gross of over $6 billion, with the latest installment, F9, considered a hit by pandemic box office standards, grossing over $700 million.
Watch Diesel’s video announcement below.
