During last month, various sources announced that the first Fast and Furious spinoff movie, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, wrapped its production. The man behind the film and its star Dwayne Johnson, also known by his WWE stage name The Rock, is celebrating. He turned to his Twitter and Instagram profiles to celebrate the end of the first separate film in the ultra-popular Fast and Furious franchise.
He wrote this as the caption: “HOBBS & SHAW – that’s a wrap. My gratitude runs deep in sayin’ this goodbye. To EVERYONE who committed their talents and time to make our movie as great as it can be and for putting their trust in me to help drive this passion project forward – THANK YOU. This production will always be more than a movie to me. It represents a soul, a DNA, a toughness, perseverance, and a CULTURE. I love you all and a big fa’afetai tele lava again for trusting me on this one. The audience always comes first… and they’re gonna have a f****** blast”.
Johnson also attached a video alongside the message, where the actor is hugging the film’s director, David Leitch, known for hits like Deadpool 2 and Atomic Blonde. The director also gives a speech to the crew about why this film is “very special”, as he said: “From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all you guys,”.
The Twitter post by Johnson was not as sentimental, but he is quite well known for it: “That’s an official wrap on HOBBS & SHAW. I and my pasty asshole partner here can’t wait for you to see it. Oh, the fun you’ll have… AUG 2nd worldwide.” The “asshole partner” he refers to is Jason Statham of course, as Johnson loves to make fun of his co-stars, like that time he messed around with Kevin Hart.
The last part of the filming took place in Hawaii, while the first section of production happened in London, ending in December last year.
In the movie, the two characters of Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Statham) make an unlikely alliance after their more than rocky history in the last few installments of the movie franchise.
Luke Hobbs first appeared in the movie Fast Five, serving as a Diplomatic Security Service agent tasked with hunting down the iconic team of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker). Hobbs ends up learning that the team of main protagonists are actually the good guys, and joins their dynamic crew in the consequent movies of the franchise.
Deckard Shaw entered the series as a villain who kills a prominent member of the main crew in the mid-credits scene for Fast & Furious 6. Han actually died towards the end of Tokyo Drift, the 4th movie in the series that takes place after the 6th movie. The car that hit his was revealed to have been driven by Shaw. Although Statham’s character was the main antagonist in the 7th film, he was a good guy in number 8.
Except for Johnson and Statham, the movie also stars Eiza González (Baby Driver and Alita: Battle Angel), Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible – Fallout and The Crown), Idris Elba (Thor: Ragnarok and Pacific Rim) as the main antagonist, and Eddie Marsan (Deadpool 2 and Atomic Blonde).
Now that the first spinoff movie is all wrapped up, the start of production on the Fast & Furious 9 is right around the corner. It was supposed to start in February but is now scheduled for June. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw hit theaters worldwide on August 2nd in all formats.
