Michelle Rodriguez Could Quit Fast And Furious Over Its Portrayal Of Women

Fast and Furious star Michelle Rodriguez has taken to Instagram to issue what appeared to be a threat to quit the franchise, if it doesn’t change the way it portrays women.

“I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one. Or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise,” she said, posting on the day of Fate of the Furious’ digital release.

It’s not the first time she’s spoken out about the male-dominated world of Fast and Furious, telling Entertainment Weekly last month: “it seems like we’ve been stuck in the ’90s for the last [however] many years that we’ve been doing the franchise, because of the macho bravado involved, but that truly is the voice of the urban ghetto. I was hoping that at some point we’d evolve out of that vibe”.

Fast 8 director F Gary Gray has since responded to the star’s Instagram post. Speaking to Business Insider, he said: “I thought there was a strong representation of women in the movie [Fate of the Furious] when you bring on what I thought was one of the strongest antagonists in Charlize Theron. And then you have Helen Mirren, who has a cameo that’s strong”.

Fate of the Furious ended up grossing $1.238 billion at the box office. It’s currently the second highest grossing film of 2017, and set the record for the highest grossing opening of all time. The next installment in the franchise will be out on 19 April 2019.