Michelle Rodriguez has opened up about requesting rewrites on the original Fast & Furious script.

The actress, who plays Letty in the franchise, insisted on her character being given more nuance than was originally written into the script of the 2001 film.

“When Michelle [Rodriguez] read her role, she was like, ‘No, I’m not playing that,’” Rodriguez’ co-star Jordana Brewster told Entertainment Weekly.

“And then she changed it completely. It went from a trophy girlfriend to this really layered character.”

“It was a reality check for them to realise that the streets don’t work like that,” Rodriguez said of her determination to change the script.

“You don’t just get with a guy because he’s hot. There’s a hierarchy there. Can that hot guy get beat up by who you’re dating? If he can, then you don’t date him, because why would you want to lose the hierarchy?”

She continued: “In order to keep it real, I had to school them: ‘I know you guys like Hollywood and all that, but if you want it to be realistic, this is how it really works, and I’m not going to be a slut in front of millions of people, so you’re going to lose me if you don’t change this.’ And they figured it out.”

Producer Neal H Moritz added of the learning curve with Rodriguez: “It was nice to have that female perspective and really try and dive deep. We wanted everybody to be empowered, whether you were white, Black, Hispanic, male, female, didn’t matter to us.”

Fast and Furious 9 is set to be released in UK cinemas on July 8. Check out the new trailer for the film here. 

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