Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw - Movie trivia and fun facts you didn’t know about the film

Two years after the last installment in the franchise, spin-off Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw has been exciting fans of the action films once again.

Starring Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, the pair form an unlikely alliance when cyber-genetically enhanced villain Brixton Lore (Idris Elba) threatens the future of humanity.

Directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2), and also starring Vanessa Kirby and Helen Mirren, Hobbs & Shaw has grossed $758,903,770 worldwide to date - making it one of the biggest films of 2019.

Here, we reveal Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw trivia, hidden Easter eggs and fun facts about the film that you might not have known ahead of its release on the NOW TV Sky Cinema Pass.

1. The jail fight scene in Fast 8 was what led to the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off 

The pair first came face-to-face in Furious 7 - but it was the scene in The Fate of the Furious (the eighth film) where the two men came to blows in a prison that made the creative team see the potential of a spin-off movie. Hobbs & Shaw co-writer and executive producer Chris Morgan told CinemaBlend.com: “The specific moment where it was so undeniable that it was going to happen was when we were shooting on Fast 8, and it’s that sequence in the prison with Dwayne and Jason. And they just start hurling insults at each other back and forth. Like, everyone’s laughing, they’re having the best time.”

2. You might recognise a certain pampered pooch in the movie

Dwayne Johnson's French bulldog, who is also called Hobbs (pictured below), makes a cameo in the movie. According to People.com, Johnson had to come in for filming on his day off to help shoot the scene with his dog. What a great puppy parent!

3. Idris Elba saying ‘I’m black Superman’ wasn’t the original line

Speaking to Variety, Dwayne Johnson reveals that Idris Elba's line in the film 'I'm black Superman' was originally supposed to be the 'black James Bond' - but Elba asked for it to be removed. According to Johnson, Elba said it's "too close to what everybody’s talking about" as Elba is consistently being reported in the press as taking over from Daniel Craig as the next 007.

4. The scenes set in Samoa were a real-life family affair for Dwayne Johnson

In the latter part of the film, the gang head to Samoa to visit Luke Hobbs’s (Dwayne Johnson) family. According to Vanity Fair, Johnson's cousin was cast to play Hobbs’s brother Mateo, while Johnson’s mother, Ata, came on set to revel in the action behind the scenes.

5. Dwayne Johnson wanted Jason Momoa to play his on-screen brother

According to CinemaBlend.com, Johnson and Momoa were trying to get Momoa on board for Hobbs & Shaw - but it didn't come together due to scheduling conflicts. He said: "Me and Momoa tried hard to get him in this movie to play my brother, but his schedule was too packed. Next Hobbs movie for sure."

6. Vanessa Kirby appeared in the film to inspire young girls

Netflix fans may recognise Vanessa Kirby - who plays Deckard Shaw’s sister, MI6 agent Hattie - from The Crown, where she’s played Princess Margaret for two series.

But while she’s no stranger to action movies - she starred in 2018's Mission: Impossible - Fallout alongside Tom Cruise - Kirby did sign up for Hobbs & Shaw for an interesting reason. Speaking to Rolling Stone, she said: “What drove me was the idea that somewhere out there, some 13-year-old girl would go to the movies, and while her brothers are freaking out over the Rock, she gets someone to relate to. That girl gets to see herself up there. She gets to have the same experience her brothers or her male friends have when they go to an action movie.”

7. The film originally had a lot more swearing in it - but it got cut out

Director David Leitch confirmed to Empire that a string of swear words were cut out from the movie - even a silent, mouthed one. He explained: “You plant a lot more F-bombs in your movies so you can take a bunch out. You submit the first pass with what you'd really want. We had a couple of other F-bombs in there, and we even had Hobbs mouthing one on the descender sequence, and it's in the trailer.”

8. A lot of the London scenes weren’t actually filmed there

You’ll recognise some of the iconic filming locations in Hobbs & Shaw - the opening scene is set outside St Paul’s Cathedral in the capital - but the production actually moved to Glasgow to film some scenes based in London. Speaking to BBC News, the film’s writer and creator Chris Morgan said: "In London, we landed a helicopter on a street right outside St Paul's, we shot outside the Leadenhall building, but what you tend not to get a lot of is actual street to do a chase sequence - and that's where Scotland came to the rescue.”

9. Deadpool 2 director David Leitch made that Ryan Reynolds cameo happen

Leitch called in a favour from one of his previous collaborators, Ryan Reynolds - who he directed in Deadpool 2 - for the role of CIA agent Locke. Explaining how it happened to Vulture.com, Leitch recalled: “I sent [Ryan] the pages. Doing what Ryan does best, he really re-crafted them into something special that had a ton of jokes and pop culture references and this weird dynamic of this character who’s kind of quasi-obsessed with Hobbs — that’s all from Ryan’s mind."

10. There are Game of Thrones Easter eggs throughout

In the film, you’ll probably spot plenty of references to pop culture phenomenon Game of Thrones. At one point, Hobbs jokingly tells Sam, about Locke, "He knows nothing, Jon Snow" - a pun on Ygritte's catchphrase "You know nothing, Jon Snow". The Game of Thrones commentary is partly in thanks to Ryan Reynolds - he jazzed up the script and added the GoT references for fun!

11. There's more Fast & Furious coming soon

Fast & Furious 9 is scheduled for a May 22, 2020 release in the UK, with filming starting in February 2019 in London. Vin Diesel shared a behind-the-scenes video from filming earlier this year: 

Fast & Furious 10 is slated for a 2 April, 2021 release, with DigitalSpy.com reporting that it will mark the 20th anniversary and also be the final movie in the franchise. 

Due to coronavirus, the film has now been pushed back a year.

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw is available to watch on Sky Cinema with NOW TV from Friday, May 22.