Fate Of The Furious Director’s Problem With Filming In Cuba

The Fate of the Furious is dominating at the box office at the moment, and fans are lining up in droves to take in the franchise’s penchant for over the top stunts and thrilling car chases. One of those crazy sequences was filmed in Cuba, a landmark occurrence that brought along its own set of challenges.

Fate director F. Gary Gray recently spoke to Heat Vision (via THR) about filming in Cuba now that the embargo has been lifted. It was an experience unlike any other, but it wasn’t easy. “It was massive undertaking to bring hundreds of people from the U.S. to Cuba, even something as simple as putting them up in a hotel” Gary said. “Or sending out emails — we had very limited to no internet service. It’s one thing to bring a movie to Cuba, but it’s another to bring a movie of this size, where you are racing vintage cars 100 miles per hour down streets where there are tens of thousands of people just watching.”

Part of the locales appeal is the narrow alleyways and streets, but that also obviously presents a challenge for actually shooting the sequences. Still, it isn’t something Gary would give up. “When you have actors and stuntmen driving at these speeds in these old cars, being chased by helicopters in a city that had never seen a helicopter like that before, it was really tough. But worth it.”

Fate has brought in over $98 million stateside, with a massive worldwide haul of over $531 million worldwide in its first week. It looks like all those strenuous efforts paid of. You can find the official synopsis below.

From the shores of Cuba and the streets of New York City to the icy plains off the arctic Barents Sea, our elite force will crisscross the globe to stop an anarchist from unleashing chaos on the world’s stage…and to bring home the man who made them a family.

For The Fate of the Furious, Vin Diesel is joined by a returning all-star cast that includes Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky and Kurt Russell. In addition to Theron, the series welcomes newcomers Scott Eastwood and Oscar winner Helen Mirren. The film is directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton) and produced by returning producers Neal H. Moritz, Michael Fottrell, and Diesel.

The Fate of the Furious opens in theaters April 14, 2017.

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