Behind the scenes at Fast & Furious Live
With first shows this week, PH had an exclusive preview of Fast & Furious Live - here's what to expect!
The idea of putting the film into a live action arena makes so much sense that it's a surprise it hasn't happened sooner. You get the authentic sounds and smells that even the best cinemas can't convey (yet) and a sense of genuine danger which only a live automotive event can provide.
Anyway, to the show itself. Or rather, the dress rehearsal at the NEC. We spent a day with the team, looking around the cars and watching the stunts, so here's what you have to look forward to if you're going to Fast and Furious Live.
In the cars are 11 stunt drivers, everyone from professional stunt drivers to drift champs, who had to audition for their part and endured four months of training before rehearsals. Because even though you might associate the NEC with a huge exhibition space, the overall arena doesn't look much bigger than an ice hockey rink - powersliding a 350Z around that takes some skill. And bravery.
Of course we'd all like to think that we could do a bit of stunt driving if we tried hard enough, thanks to a misspent youth of handbrake turns and one or two jammy drifts. But the level of precision on show at Fast and Furious Live is something else, the manoeuvres centimetre perfect and the stunts seemingly flawless. To achieve all this in a pack of cars, while remembering the choreography and then jumping into a completely different vehicle for another act, is a display of remarkable talent. They could be doing it in Fiesta vans around cones in the car park and you'd pay to watch because the driving is so good.
Being a dress rehearsal, featuring the mishaps and delays that those days feature, we didn't see the whole show. But there was more than enough to be very pleased by in this taste. We've not even mentioned the submarine yet (or the jet Charger that goes with it), the Rio bank job, or the tank. Or the Buick Gran National GNX. Swish.
There was every possibility that the Fast & Furious Live show could be a bit naff, a tacky homage that only aimed to cash in on the franchise. But, while it's never going to be a subtle and emotional stage effort, the originality, innovation and engagement of Fast & Furious Live should ensure nobody leaves disappointed. It moves the films successfully into another arena (pun kind of intended) and we can't wait to see the full thing on Friday. See you at the O2...
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It was absolutely excellent.
I just expected some cars doing donuts but it was like being in the middle of a film set.
One suggestion I would make though is to sit at the end of the arena, facing the 'stage'.
Have a look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF7DqQrXbQY&fe... and you'll see what I mean.
All cars are four cylinder?????
I thought the whole point of this was to experience the sounds in real life and then you find it's fake engines and not even accurate sounds.
May as well just go to Maccie D's and hear some Civics revving up!
Thanks to PH for warning us of this though, doubt they publish that in the adverts.
I can't find it now, but I made a comment about it appealing to people who wear vests.
By the sound of the review in today's Guardian, it seems there were other events (maybe a rolling road open day) that kept the vest-wearing massive away...
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/19/not-f...
They did let one explosion off that rattled the floor ( probably holed the floor ) but the girly and guy who were there to explain it all , grated after a while. Clever how they changed the colours of the cars with using white cars, but that wasnt enough for us to enjoy it.
I hope others enjoyed, as the younger kids seemed to buzz around us, but we went, we saw, we had a Maccy d's ..................
Some elements were really very clever, as said above, the colour changing cars - in fact the whole light setup and projecting onto the floor of the arena was very good. Some scenes dragged on too long, the lorry swinging round springs to mind.
The smell in there at times was a bit ripe - not quite sure how they get away with that these days. I honestly expected the majority of the cars to be electric, with the hero cars coming on making the noise. I'm used to pungent car aromas being around the classics and garages too.
Families turning up with very small children - it was a bit late for them and a bit loud = Lots of crying little ones.
Glad I went. I don't necessarily need to see it again, but glad I went.
As for the Guardian review I'd expect nothing less from a supposedly high brow news outlet, overall I'd say it was good but needed a bigger venue to make it a great show.
Overall I'm glad I took him, but yes, there's only so much you can do in a space like that.
Was it f
k. It was a very low brow production and few of the audience engaged at any point. Even the target demographic chaps sitting behind us gave up making any noise not long into the first half. Twenty segements of cars doing the same slides repeatedly, each segment going on far too long so as to fill space and time, interspersed by a woman who thought she was Tony Montana with palsy and a heavily arthritic dude who’d shoved a root vegetable in his pants and was convinced he was carrying invisible sacks of potatoes under his arms.
The highlight being the utterly farcical flying objects like a missile straight out of the muppet show and a couple of inflatable cars. Vin Diesel walked on at the opening with a face like an exploded potato which got some people excited momentarily. They then chirped up again for a few seconds when they saw the dead person but even those people weren’t engaged beyond that.
I don’t believe for one moment that anyone from an office in Teddington thought it was anything other than fodder for the provincial and third world punter.
Was it f
k. It was a very low brow production and few of the audience engaged at any point. Even the target demographic chaps sitting behind us gave up making any noise not long into the first half. Twenty segements of cars doing the same slides repeatedly, each segment going on far too long so as to fill space and time, interspersed by a woman who thought she was Tony Montana with palsy and a heavily arthritic dude who’d shoved a root vegetable in his pants and was convinced he was carrying invisible sacks of potatoes under his arms.
The highlight being the utterly farcical flying objects like a missile straight out of the muppet show and a couple of inflatable cars. Vin Diesel walked on at the opening with a face like an exploded potato which got some people excited momentarily. They then chirped up again for a few seconds when they saw the dead person but even those people weren’t engaged beyond that.
I don’t believe for one moment that anyone from an office in Teddington thought it was anything other than fodder for the provincial and third world punter.
Matt
P.S. Sorry for any confusion on the engines, I did mean just the cars involved in the Miami scene.
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