Anais Gutierrez
On Thursday, Michelle Rodriguez took to Instagram to call out the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise over the treatment of their women. The actress threatened with leaving the franchise because of how women in the set were treated.
Rodriguez has been open about this issue before.
Rodriguez made a very much needed call out
Michelle Rodriguez took to Instagram to pay tribute to the digital release of the franchise’s latest film. However, the actress took the opportunity to set the record straight about certain facts regarding women.
Rodriguez captioned the pic: “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.” ; “It’s been a good ride and I’m grateful for the opportunity the fans and studio have provided over the years…One Love,” she added.
The actress sort of threatened the franchise with leaving if production does not change the portrayal and treatment of its female characters.
Rodriguez has appeared as Leticia “Letty” Ortiz since the very first film in 2001. She has starred in five of the franchise films. Vin Diesel is the only other current cast member to appear in the original The Fast and the Furious.
The franchise has already announced the next two installments. Fast and Furious 9 will open April 19, 2019, and Fast and Furious 10 coming April 2, 2021.
Addressing a Hollywood current issue
It’s not the first time Rodriguez speaks out about the women in the franchise either. Back in May, she spoke candidly about fighting with movie bosses to make sure her character accurately portrays strong women.
‘’There are fights every now and then. Like, ‘Why is she so hard to work with?’ I’m not hard to work with. I just demand a certain level of respect for the individual character,” she said.
“Through the years, they’ve realized that the loyalty that fans have for that character is because of those fights because I never fought for anything stupid. It’s not like I’m sitting here, ‘Oh, I want to drive a car through that!’ she added.
Also, she has previously complained of limited dialogue in the movies.
“I [changed] the character from being something that I could not do in front of millions of people into a character that I’m actually proud of, but at the end of the day, what message are we sending out there for women?,” she told EW.
The latest film ‘The Fate Of The Furious‘ did bring another female character to center stage with Charlize Theron as Cipher. However, the character was a villain hell bent on destroying humanity.
And Elsa Pataky’s Elena Nives character – involved in four of the movies – was shot from behind in the head. Meanwhile, Letty and Ramsay were given significantly smaller roles to make room for the Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham bromance.
And, to add fuel to Michelle’s fire, Jordana Brewster’s character, Mia, was in four films and cut after the real-life death of Paul Walker.
Source: Stuff
