Actress Rita Moreno has been lined up to play Vin Diesel’s grandmother in the next installment of the Fast & Furious franchise.
The announcement was made by none other than Vin Diesel, who posted a short video to Instagram welcoming Moreno to the Furious party.
The 54-year-old actor said it had been his dream since “forever” to work with Moreno and that it made his “soul smile” that she would now be playing his grandmother in Fast & Furious 10.
And the 90-year-old actress appeared quite happy to be taking on the role. She told Diesel, ” I think my old age was waiting for you to invite me. Isn’t that nice?”
Rita Moreno is ‘thrilled’ to play Vin Diesel’s grandmother
The West Side Story actress added enthusiastically, “the answer is yes, I’ll do it. And yes, not only do it, but I’m tickled. I’m tickled to hell to do it. I’m so thrilled. It’s going to be such fun!”
A clearly emotional Vin clutched his heart and said, “thank you so much.”
Also in the video was longtime Fast & Furious regular Michelle Rodriguez, who could be seen smiling and heard laughing throughout the exchange. At the end, she shouted, “Rita Moreno in the house, baby.”
Fans were delighted about Rita Moreno appearing in Fast & Furious X
Fans were super quick to register their approval in the comments section at the addition of Rita Moreno to the cast.
One commenter echoed the sentiments of most fans by writing, “Woowww!!! Super! I love you Vin,” they also included a load of heart emojis and a fire emoji.
One fan thanked Diesel for continuing to bring diversity to the cast of Fast & Furious and also implied that the late actor, Paul Walker, would be pleased.
They wrote: “Amazing!! You are awesome! Gracias for bringing in such a great group of diversity to FF along the years! Absolutely AWESOME! Paul Walker is smiling!”
Fast X is currently filming in London, and according to Variety, actors Jason Momoa and Alan Ritchson will also be making an appearance in the next installment. Regular cast members Sung Kang, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, and Scott Eastwood, will be making a return. And Charlize Theron is set to return as the villain, Cipher.
Louis Leterrier replaced Justin Lin as the director in April. Some have blamed Diesel for Lin’s exit.