Fasten your seatbelts. Hollywood actor Vin Diesel and his Fast & Furious crew may be heading to this part of the world to film the seventh instalment of the franchise. The sixth film in the series that has raked in over $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) at the box office so far releases in the UAE on Thursday.
In an interview with Digital Spy last week, Diesel revealed that the makers of the franchise were looking at the Middle East and Tokyo as potential shooting destinations for the next film in the car-based action series — sparking rumours that Dubai is on their radar.
Speaking to tabloid! on Thursday, Jamal Al Sharif, chairman of the Dubai Film and TV Commission and managing director of Dubai Studio City, didn’t rule out the possibility.
“I cannot reveal names of Hollywood films to be shot here. But there’s a group who is coming to scout for locations. When anybody thinks of the Middle East, Dubai and Abu Dhabi comes up as a natural platform,” said Al Sharif, who had just returned from attending the Cannes Film Festival as part of the UAE delegation.
“We will soon be making three major announcements regarding Hollywood film shoots in the UAE. It’s going to be big,” added Al Sharif.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Dubai is on the radar for the Fast & Furious team — the city is filled with supercars, with even Dubai Police boasting an impressive fleet of patrol cars, including an Aston Martin, Lamborghini Aventador and Ferrari.
And if the makers are looking for a cameo, teen pop idol Justin Bieber should fit the bill: He’s familiar with Dubai’s roads after racking up a number of speeding fines on Shaikh Zayed Road in a Lamborghini Aventador earlier this month.
It won’t be the first time that Dubai is featured in a hit Hollywood franchise. In 2011, Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol team spent over 20 days filming in Dubai. The result? The world was treated to the superstar dangling from the iconic Burj Khalifa.
