How the Fate of the Furious became the first film to shoot in Cuba in 60 years

Dom and Letty may have enjoyed the honeymoon of dreams in Cuba, but for the crew of the Fate of the Furious, it was anything but a holiday.

The Fast and the Furious franchise became the first Hollywood blockbuster to shoot in Cuba in 60 years after the Obama-lead administration eased travel laws back in 2016 - and the film crew made sure the scenes would be remembered for years.

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We traveled to the incredibly beautiful island (just days before Trump decided to place restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba) for the Fate of The Furious DVD release, to check out where the now famous opening sequence from the film was shot and how it all came about.

The Fast and the Furious is known for springing up in exotic locations, - like Iceland, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo – where they produce slick car racing scenes movie fans just can’t get enough of.

And the for the latest installment, which is out now on DVD, the whole production relocated to Havana in Cuba, where Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez brought the locals into a world they had never experienced before.

It was a massive production the majority of Cubans had never seen before in their lives and according to Richard Klein from McLarty media, who acted as the political advisor on the film, the Cuban government were totally onboard with it.

Despite the fact that the movie isn’t actually available to watch in Cuba, the locals are huge fans of the franchise – something which didn’t get past the government.

They were aware of how popular it was and were keen to show that such a production could work if the Americans and Cubans worked together.

It was the logistics of getting the equipment to Cuba that was the hard part for Richard and the rest of the crew.

Director F. Gary Grey said the team brought absolutely everything they needed to shoot the film with them, even the toilet paper.

“Every toy a director could want is not only here but it’s in Cuba, which means that we have to put all this stuff on a ship, on a plane, on a submarine,” he said.

“Whatever we did we got it out here and we’re bringing the infrastructure to Cuba, because there’s not much here, especially to shoot a movie of this size.”

Cuba is known for its deep love for classic cars, which are actually passed down from generation to generation - so acquiring bright, well-kept, sports cars for the scenes wasn’t a problem for the crew to source.

“We brought the cars from the US that we used in the chase scenes but every other car here, they were local,” Richard said.

“As you’re around Havana and you see how many classic American cars there are and how amazingly they’re cared for and restored and the pride that people have as they’re driving through the streets of the city, yu’ll see we had more cars to choose from than we could use.”

One of the biggest moment for Richard was when they brought a helicopter in to shoot aerial scenes of the streets of Havana.

“You rarely see helicopters in the air over Havana. They’re just not here, there’s no need,” he said.

“So we brought our own helicopter from the US and it was kind of remarkable the first day we were flying that everything stopped in the city.

“People stopped their cars to get out and look. People went out on their balconies, went out on their rooftops.

“It was an absolute curiosity to see not just a helicopter but this bright midnight blue American made helicopter with a camera on it and it’s flying over the city.”

It was also important for the crew to bring the Cuban culture –which is all about family – into the film.

“Cuba is sort of an ideal home for Fast and the Furious, I mean this is a movie about cars and family and friends and girls and parties and all that’s sort of part of everyday life here.

“Everywhere you look people are devoted to their families, there’s hospitality and warmth - it was a natural home for this movie.”

The Fate of the Furious is now available from Universal Home Entertainment on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand.

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