The Fast and Furious cast has taken the UAE by storm. Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson and Michelle Rodriguez arrived in the capital city over the past week to continue filming Fast and Furious 7. Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges followed suit on Sunday.
“Abu Dhabi, here I come,” Bridges Tweeted on Sunday morning. The caption came with a picture of his feet propped up in front of him on a first class flight with a flat screen television in view. “Now that’s ludicrous,” was his hashtag. Over the weekend, Bridges was busy performing shows in North America while the rest of his co-stars got a head start adventuring around the UAE. tabloid! understands the cast are in Abu Dhabi filming until at least Friday.
Diesel first stirred up excitement on April 8 when he announced he was about to jump on a plane to Dubai “for the first time” on his Facebook page. The next day, Diesel made an appearance at a Flashdance event at Cavalli Club, where he was seen laughing and showing little signs of wear and tear from his inevitable jet lag.
Gibson is no novice to the UAE. He spent a portion of December last year in the country with fellow countrymen Will Smith and R’n’B singer Maxwell.
On April 10 and 11, he began chronicling his trip back to Abu Dhabi. He posted two videos of himself travelling with Rodriguez, the second of which took place in the first class section of Etihad Airways.
“On our way to Abu Dhabi,” a smiling Gibson declared, pointing the camera at Rodriguez who was on the phone in the seat beside him.
“Yeah, baby — better than a G6, homie,” Rodriguez said to the camera. She joked that she wanted “some privacy” right before Gibson raised the partition between their seats with a laugh.
On April 12, he posted a video of himself and Diesel walking towards a helicopter that would take them from Abu Dhabi to Dubai for their “two days off”.
“We’re going international, straight to Dubai,” he said. “The Fast family — it gets real out here. We love you Paul, we’re gonna represent, we’re gonna make you proud, baby. UAE, all my Arabs, I love y’all.”
“Wanna shout out to UAE?” he asked Diesel in a video of them on board the helicopter briefly before arriving at Dubai. Diesel only pulled a face at the lens. Gibson laughed and dubbed him “camera shy”.
The two arrived in Dubai and posed for photos in front of the helicopter pad at the Burj Al Arab hotel. A representative for Burj Al Arab told tabloid! that the stars wanted their visit to be “very low profile” and that they had requested no PR.
Gibson was also seen in a photo wearing a “Walker” no. 40 jersey and looking pensively out to the ocean. The jersey was a tribute to co-star Paul Walker who died in a crash in November of last year at the age of 40.
“I come here, feel the energy of the ocean and all I think of is my brother,” Gibson wrote.
Later that day, he posted several videos of himself to Instagram and Facebook at the Julius Bar Beach Polo Cup, saying it was “a whole other level.” Rodriguez was also spotted at the Polo Cup in a Beastie Boys shirt posing for several grinning photos with her fans.
