Yes, there will be a seventh one. Michelle Rodriguez confirmed the next installment of the “Fast and Furious” series in an interview on the NBC Latino talk show “Cafecito”, according to The New York Daily News.
“They just announced that ‘Fast & Furious 7’ shoots in September and will release in 2014 next year in July,” she told host Feliciano Garcia.
Rodriguez recently let the world know about her appetite for a career change from acting to writing. However, she returned to the big screen to bring Letty Ortiz back from the dead.
“I’d love to [write],” she said. She acknowledged that with the announcement of the next installment she’ll “barely have time to breathe.”
Fast and Furious 6 did well this weekend taking home the top spot with $160 million. This marked the best opening for a Universal Pictures release.
“What pressure I felt. Just to know that the fans asked for me back and that Vin [Diesel] fought tooth and nail to bring me back to the franchise,” said Rodriguez who recently won the Cosmo for Latinas Fun Fearless Latina of the Year award.
Universal Pictures put up $200 million to get Letty Ortiz back on the screen.
In addition to the expected driving that appears in every Fast and Furious movie, Rodriguez had to also train for her fight against Gina Carano, a professional mixed martial arts fighter.
“Going up against Gina Carano, my first instinct was [that] whatever happens I can’t let down that little tomboy that’s screaming in my ear on my shoulder, the one that’s like ‘You better not mess this up. We’re counting on you,’” she said.
She wanted the fighting scene to be believable and not like the “‘Kill Bill’-style [fights] where the girls are getting knocked all over the place and all of a sudden you’re in a room of fifty people and they all drop from one move. It’s not believable.”
“They want Gina Carano to bring her MMA skills and Michelle Rodriguez to be fight or flight as the Letty character,” said Rodriguez referring to her fanbase.
“Now, in today’s day and age, girls actually despise a girl who’s weak,” she explained saying viewers want more than just a beautiful girl on the screen. “Even the guys react negatively to the hot girl that’s just there to bone. They’re like ‘I can go to Hooters for that.’”