‘Fast 8’ Eyes Charlize Theron to Play the Villain, May Make All Your Dreams Come True
Fact: Mad Max: Fury Road was one of the best films of 2015, if not of all time. Fact: Charlize Theron is an amazing actress who’s pretty great at playing not-so-nice characters and stone cold badasses. Fact: Fury Road proved that she could be even more badass when you put her behind the wheel, leading us to daydream about seeing Theron in a Fast and Furious movie. So here’s an even better fact: Fast 8 might be making those dreams come true.
Per Variety, Theron is in talks to play the villain in Fast 8, making her the franchise’s first central female baddie and probably its coolest. The Wrap adds that Universal has been pursuing Theron for months, and although she has not yet agreed to join the cast, it’s still quite plausible (and also maybe if we all collectively shut our eyes really tight and wish for it at the same time, it will happen).
F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton) is directing the eighth installment in the Fast and Furious series, with Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson and Jason Statham all expected to return. There’s also been talk of Kurt Russell reprising his role from Furious 7.
Theron is currently filming The Coldest City, a new spy thriller from John Wick co-director David Leitch, based on the graphic novel by Antony Johnston. Up next, she’ll appear in The Gray Man, based on a screenplay by Joe and Anthony Russo, which was originally eyeing Brad Pitt for the leading role. That script is undergoing rewrites to switch the gender of the character for Theron, and Sony has yet to officially announce a director, which gives the actress enough time to star in Fast 8 if she so chooses — and we really, really, really hope she does.