F9

[Drunk Monk]

Helen total steals the scene she's in. But that makes sense because she plays the mother of thieves. 

Meanwhile...

Helen Mirren Agrees With Vin Diesel: It’s Time For Michael Caine to Join the ‘Fast and Furious’ Series
Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2021 by Eric Vespe

We can all agree that Michael Caine makes any movie he’s in at least 25% better just by his mere presence, right? He’s just that kind of performer. Whether he’s playing a good guy or a bad guy, if he’s onscreen your eyes are going to be on him.

Naturally, that makes him a very sought after actor and it looks like there are plans underway to get him into the Fast and Furious franchise.

Dame Helen Mirren recently revealed to the New York Times that Vin Diesel floated the idea of Caine showing up in a future Fast and Furious flick as Queenie Shaw’s ex-husband. Should this come to pass, Caine would be playing the Elder Shaw, father figure to Jason Statham‘s Deckard Shaw and Vanessa Kirby‘s Hattie Shaw.

To be perfectly clear, this item is firmly in “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” territory. We don’t even know if Caine has even been approached, but it is still a rather intriguing idea, not just because Caine is an always dependable “Never Bad” (ie someone who brings the thunder no matter what the movie is, be it Children of Men or Jaws: The Revenge) but because of the particular baggage he brings with him to this particular character.

What Might It Be Like to See Michael Caine in Fast and Furious?

Caine has a history of playing hard-ass Brits in stuff like Get Carter and his Bond-ish Harry Palmer films, so he’s easy to see as Statham and Kirby’s pops. It’s also worth mentioning that decades before the Fast and Furious films evolved into high octane heist adventures Michael Caine was there using Mini-Coopers to evade the police in The Italian Job.

It’s hard to nail down exactly what the Fast and the Furious films are because the series has evolved so radically since its Point Break-ish street racing origins, but there is zero doubt that Caine’s 1969 The Italian Job is a big influence on the films, especially in the fun dynamic between the folks behind the wheel. The team in The Italian Job might not be family, but I could definitely see them sitting back and enjoying a pint at a backyard BBQ.

In that NYT interview, Mirren sounded absolutely delighted at the prospect of Caine joining up with the Fast and the Furious team, and for good reason. She knows what he brings to every project he does and it just kinda feels right for him to show up in this series, doesn’t it?

If the fun casting idea being floated by Mirren and Diesel does become a reality, we can be assured of at least one thing: he would absolutely blow the bloody doors off.

Helen Mirren Correctly Thinks She and Vin Diesel Should Have Kissed in ‘F9,’ With a Catch
Posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2021 by Jeremy Mathai

The Fast & Furious movies have provided plenty of attention-grabbing, zeitgeist-defining moments throughout its impressive run (starting all the way back in 2001, well before the MCU was even a glimmer in Kevin Feige’s eye!). With the recently-released F9: The Fast Saga, we’ve officially reached the zenith of the franchise when it comes to unbelievable stunts, returning characters, and Vin Diesel glowering at everybody in sight.

But, of course, social media latched onto one specific moment out of all others: when we take a detour through London for no other reason than to reunite with the appropriately-named Queenie (Helen Mirren), returning after prior appearances in The Fate of the Furious and Hobbes & Shaw. Queenie takes Dominic Toretto on a joyride in a wildly expensive (not to mention stolen) supercar, exhibiting a shocking amount of chemistry between herself and Diesel in the process. But should they have kissed? Mirren thinks so — with a catch.

The Greatest Will They/Won’t They of Our Time

Okay, let’s not beat around the bush. To the disappointment of some, Mirren seems to mostly shoot down this whole kissing thing before it can even get off the ground. “A very chaste kiss would be nice, yes,” she gently suggests to The New York Times. But don’t lose all hope, as she then goes on to enthuse about her real-life affection for her lovable co-star.

“What an honor to find myself driving him, and also very intimidating. Vin doesn’t make it intimidating — he was so easy and lovely — but the technology of this kind of filming is very complex, and it’s a world I’m not that familiar with at all. So it was a great help to have a good friend sitting next to me, for sure. And just to hear that voice!
I mean, Vin has the most unbelievable voice. I go a bit gooey when I hear it. That velvety brown rumble in your ear is so fabulous to experience for a whole day or two. It is like hearing the most incredibly well-oiled engine.”

Look, say what you want about Vin Diesel and his abilities as a movie star, but you’re clearly doing something right when you manage to get Mirren to describe you in such positively glowing terms. And Mirren gushes even further that if Diesel “only if he talks to me before and after” this hypothetical kiss, “of course” she would be on board. “Because it’s the voice that I really get off on, quite honestly,” she said.

If we never get the torrid, full-fledged Dom/Queenie love affair this franchise so clearly deserves, at least we can hang our hats on that.

In between providing tidbits about Diesel being a bit of a mama’s boy (seriously, click through to read the interview in full for yourself), Mirren mostly just seems thrilled to even be a small but crucial part of these movies, and for the opportunity to get behind the wheel herself — on location in London, no less!

“Oh my God, it’s totally why I wanted to be in the movies! In reality, they wrote lovely scenes for me, and I was part of the creation of the character in the first place — I wanted her to be called Queenie and come from that kind of East End family I know a little bit about — but I mostly wanted to be behind the wheel of a car and, of course, that didn’t happen for two of the movies. Somehow, they made it work for this movie, which was fantastic.”

May we all live our lives one quarter mile at a time the way Helen Mirren has. F9 is currently in theaters if you just want to watch this one scene all over again.