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Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw has plenty of Hollywood starpower right there in the title with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham playing the pair, but the can't-miss cameos from David Leitch's action-packed spinoff are just as eye-popping. Some spoilers are ahead for those of you who haven't seen this movie yet; you've been warned.
More than just a cameo and not just stunt-casting, the introduction of CIA agents Locke and Loeb helped to nail down exposition beats in Hobbs & Shaw but also suggest future installments of the spinoff to come. And who better to play the suited spy duo than Deadpool 2's own Ryan Reynolds and Rob Delaney? Obviously Leitch is familiar with them, having directed the Fox/Marvel sequel, but what about Kevin Hart's appearance as Air Marshal Dinkley?
In a 1-on-1 interview with Leitch, Collider's own Steven Weintraub learned just how those cameos came about. Leitch admits to having "stuffy expositional dialogue about the virus" and just called Reynolds up to add some fun to this scene; it was an easy sell. Both Johnson and writer/producer Chris Morgan were on board, and Reynolds was up for completing the circle by doing the coda in the credits sequence, too. As for Hart, who has a great working relationship with Johnson, "that was an easy call for him", according to Leitch. The two were working on Jumanji together at the time and they needed a "Leo Getz-type character" to help the team get from Point A to Point B. That simple!
Here's the official synopsis for Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw:
After eight films that have amassed almost $5 billion worldwide, the Fast & Furious franchise now features its first stand-alone vehicle as Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their roles as Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
Ever since hulking lawman Hobbs (Johnson), a loyal agent of America’s Diplomatic Security Service, and lawless outcast Shaw (Statham), a former British military elite operative, first faced off in 2015’s Furious 7, the duo have swapped smack talk and body blows as they’ve tried to take each other down.
But when cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton (Idris Elba) gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever — and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent (The Crown‘s Vanessa Kirby), who just happens to be Shaw’s sister — these two sworn enemies will have to partner up to bring down the only guy who might be badder than themselves.
Hobbs & Shaw blasts open a new door in the Fast universe as it hurtles action across the globe, from Los Angeles to London and from the toxic wasteland of Chernobyl to the lush beauty of Samoa.