Fast X will see Dominic Toretto contend with demons from the past that he is responsible for creating. A new enemy, Dante Reyes, is targeting Dominic Toretto and his family. Dante’s thirst for revenge stems from the heist Dominic and his crew pulled off in Rio de Janeiro years ago, where they stole his family’s fortune and killed his father, Hernan Reyes.
Fast X includes an impressive returning cast, including Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, and Charlize Theron. Joining the Fast and the Furious family are Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Daniela Melchior, Scott Eastwood, and Alan Ritchson. Fast X is directed by Louis Leterrier from a script written by Justin Lin and Dan Mazeau based on a story by Lin, Mazeau, and Zach Dean.
Screen Rant spoke with Jason Momoa about playing Dante Reyes in Fast X. He reveals why his Impala is lavender and how he influenced Dante’s wardrobe. Momoa also breaks down how he makes Dante so terrifying yet funny and teases an even bigger Fast & Furious 11.
Jason Momoa on Fast X
Screen Rant: Jason Momoa. Man, what a hell of a performance. When I spoke to you with Slumberland, you talked about putting on the wardrobe to get into the character of Flip. Was that a similar situation, getting into the character of Dante?
Jason Momoa: Yeah, I really weigh heavily on wardrobe and props. It’s my lack of acting skills where I really need their help. I really built a lot of this wardrobe with obviously a costume designer, but just had a lot of ideas, what I wanted.
I feel like Flip, Trish had that all pretty much dialed, but I didn’t want it to come in with a lot of colors. I really was inspired by pastel colors. I wanted something that was warm and inviting and then when you got close to him, you were just like, “That’s the devil and the devil tricked me.” So that was kind of the whole idea.
Speaking of the colors, I actually got to check out your Impala in person. And from what I was told, they matched the color of that car to your nail polish, which then they matched to your wardrobe. Can you talk to me about designing your own car in that sense and what that says about your character?
Jason Momoa: They weren’t that keen on letting me have a lavender car. I think Neil was like, “No, we’re not doing lavender.” I’m like, “Dude, we need to do it. I want it lavender.” And they budged . The whole thing behind lavender is that my mother absolutely despises that color and I adore that color.
I use it to just kind of get under my mother’s skin, and it just makes us laugh. So I call it Yaya Lavender and then just having all my nails done that way. So I’m excited for her to see me in full pinks and purples, and it will just make her cringe. So that gives me a lot of joy.
I love that. Your character kind of seems like the Joker of The Fast and the Furious universe, with his nature and his flamboyancy and cruelty. What inspired some of that character development we see with Dante?
Jason Momoa: You sit in your imagination and you come from a crime family. My father was taken from me and then everything was taken from me. So not only that, but all our money. He was left to defend for himself in Brazil. He just spent a good part of his life just obsessing about Dom and having that revenge. So someone who’s just had everything taken from them, he just wanted to hurt him in the worst way and take away that legacy of his.
Obviously, it’s his child and break his family apart. So I don’t know. I feel like if you studied someone that much, you actually want to be them, and you love them, and you want to wear their skin and become that. You just kind of play it that way and you can emotionally, anything can come out. It can be funny, it can be sexy, it can be scary, but at the root of it, I’m going to wear your skin.
It’s weird because you’re so charismatic as Dante, but you’re equally terrifying, which is an incredible shift. Can you talk about infusing some offbeat humor into the character as well?
Jason Momoa: For instance, Dom, we had a big fight scene planned for me and him, and we’ve seen that we’ve done that. They don’t need to get into the showdown of fighting each other. I think it’s way more interesting, he gets the kicked out of him, and he loves it. To get off on being beat up and just so he can get close to him because he’s got the upper hand.
He constantly has the upper hand on Dom. And it’s not that we don’t want to see them fight because that showdown’s going to come and that’ll be violent, especially with someone who just adores pain and is probably already dead inside. It’s scary when someone’s getting off on that pain. And so I wanted that to be there. And through that, his humor.
I lost a molar. I never took my wisdom teeth out because I’m a wussy and I’m terrified of dentists. So I cracked my molar. And so I have this gap here and I was like, “This would be funny if you just beat the shit out of me and I’ll pull my tooth out and dick or poopy and just throw it at him, and then whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.” And we just made all that up where I’m like, “You don’t like ballet?” And he’s like, “What?” And they let me do it. And then I started doing Swan Lake and I literally am googling Swan Lake on set going like, “Oh, I got to figure out how to do this.”
I don’t know if they left it in there, but I’m dancing around and there’s stuntmen and there’s grown-ass men watching me prance around and do ballet. And I haven’t seen the movie yet, but hopefully it’s in there. But yeah, it just kind of gets born within in the moments.
Dude, thank you so much for your time. You’re so fantastic in this movie and I love this franchise. I think this might be my favorite installment.
Jason Momoa: That’s super cool, man. Well, obviously the next one’s going to even, even bigger and better, so thanks for watching. I’m excited to see it with my friends and family, so I haven’t got to see it yet. This will be a very exciting day.
Bro, candy for my eyes, this movie was. I could not look away from the screen.
Jason Momoa: I’m going to steal that quote. Thank you.
About Fast X
Dominic Toretto must protect his family from a new threat with ties to his past. Dante Reyes, son of Hernan Reyes from Fast Five, seeks revenge against Dominic for the loss of his family fortune and the death of his father. Dominic must pull his family together to protect each other from the most volatile threat they’ve faced yet.
Check out our tour of the Fast X car supervisor’s garage for insight into the new cars and motorcycles in the movie.
