A rainy day in LA did not put a damper on the family affair that was the Fast & Furious: Spy Racers world premiere this past weekend as the cast posed on the blue carpet at AMC Universal Citywalk. The premiere was hosted by Universal and Dreamworks Animation.
Fast & Furious: Spy racers is a new animated original Netflix series based on Universal’s multi-billion dollar Fast & Furious franchise. Tim Hedrick (DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender) and Bret Haaland (All Hail King Julien) serve as executive producers and showrunners. Also serving as one of the executive producers is one of the franchises’ biggest stars Vin Diesel, along with Neal Moritz and Chris Morgan who serve as producers on the live-action Fast & Furious franchise.
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 07: Vin Diesel attends “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers” World Premiere at Universal CityWalk on December 07, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for DreamWorks Animation)
Spy Racers centers around teenager Tony Toretto (voiced by Tyler Posey) as he follows in the footsteps of his cousin Dom. Tony and his friends are recruited by a secret government agency to infiltrate SH1FT3R, an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious crime organization bent on world domination.
On the carpet, Posey (Teen Wolf) told The Knockturnal that this was the right project for him to join telling us, “I really love kids and I really want to be there for them any way that I can and this is an awesome show that is really kid-friendly and they learn a lot of really cool things.”
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 07: Tyler Posey attends “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers” World Premiere at Universal CityWalk on December 07, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for DreamWorks Animation)
Another draw for Posey was the representation that the show provides for kids and the significance of that. On representation, he told the Knockturnal, “We’ve got a really good eclectic cast, very ethnic, and they get to see themselves with these characters and know that they matter.”
Manish Dayal (The Resident) who plays Shashi Dhar, the world-domination-obsessed leader of the criminal organization SH1FT3R, also got attracted to the project because of representation. “The idea of having a South Asian character being animated in a franchise like this…I thought that was super important and it appealed to me and it was something that I jumped to.”
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 07: Manish Dayal. attends “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers” World Premiere at Universal CityWalk on December 07, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for DreamWorks Animation)
Also lending his voice is Luke Youngblood (Harry Potter), who plays Frostee Benson, a 13-year-old tech genius. He shared with The Knockturnal how personal being a part of this series has been for him. “I don’t even know if I can really put into words how excited I am. Also because one of my friends plays the character called Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) in the actual movies and this came around and I was like their doing an animated series on Fast & The Furious? That’s genius!”
Youngblood was no stranger to auditioning for voiceovers but as a fan of the series and animation, he just really wanted this role. He told us, “When I was younger growing up watching the movies, I remember just having such a sense of escapism, wanting to be in the fast cars, and updating that for today’s generation in just a whole new visually stunning way is just spectacular.”
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 07: Luke Youngblood attends “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers” World Premiere at Universal CityWalk on December 07, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for DreamWorks Animation)
Inside the theatre, before the screening got underway, Vin Diesel gave a heartwarming introduction that really captured the spirit of love and family that make the Fast & Furious franchise so special. Diesel had a proud dad moment as he brought his daughter, Similce Diesel up to the front to share how proud he was of her for this being her debut project. In the series, she is the voice of Frostee’s younger sister Sissy.
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 07: (L-R) Vin Diesel and Similce Diesel attend “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers” World Premiere at Universal CityWalk on December 07, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for DreamWorks Animation)
Additionally, he told the audience how everyone who has worked in the “Fast” franchises has dreamed of being able to have a series like this to give children like his 4-year old daughter Pauline, a show that showcases the heart of “Fast”. On this Diesel said, “Love, multiculturalism, family, that is why I was always so proud to be a part of Universal they were the pioneers. They were the ones that said it didn’t matter where you were from, what nationality you were if you loved each other you were family, and that’s something I will be proud of for the rest of my life.”
Diesel also highlighted how real-life the theme of family is between the movies and reality when he shared that Meadow Walker (Paul Walker’s daughter) was in the audience to show support for Similce Diesel.
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 07: (L-R) Vin Diesel, Similce Diesel and Meadow Walker attend “Fast & Furious: Spy Racers” World Premiere at Universal CityWalk on December 07, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for DreamWorks Animation)
Additional guests in attendance included: Renee Elise Goldsberry (Fast & Furious: Spy Racers), Camille Ramsey (Fast & Furious: Spy Racers), Donna Langley (Chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment), Charlet Chung (Fast & Furious: Spy Racers), Jorge Diaz (Fast & Furious: Spy Racers), along with a pregnant Teddi Mellencamp (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) who showed off her bump on the carpet.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers will start racing into the hearts of the next generation on Netflix December 26! Check out the trailer here.
ABOUT FAST & FURIOUS FRANCHISE:
Over the course of nine films that have successively stoked passion in an ever-expanding audience and earned nearly $6 billion at the worldwide box office, Universal Pictures’ record-smashing homegrown franchise has become the studio’s most-profitable and longest-running one. Across social media platforms, fan following for the movies and cast has grown into the biggest of any active franchise. On the heels of The Fate of the Furious, which debuted in theaters as the biggest global opening of all time, the blockbuster franchise has expanded to a multitude of offerings – from toys and video games, to an all-new animated series and successfully launched spin-off franchise. The Ninth Chapter in the Fast & Furious saga hits U.S. theaters May 22, 2020.
ABOUT DREAMWORKS ANIMATION:
DreamWorks Animation is one of the world’s leading producers of high-quality, animated family programming, reaching consumers in more than 190 countries. Creating a diverse array of original content in a variety of formats and delivering deep, fully immersive worlds served up with compelling characters, the prolific studio has garnered 25 Emmy® Awards since inception in 2013 and is home to such beloved series as Trollhunters, Spirit Riding Free, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, The Boss Baby: Back in Business, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Dragons: Race to the Edge, All Hail King Julien, 3Below and the recently released Archibald’s Next Big Thing. DreamWorks is a division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group within NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.
