Rumors that Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the great soccer players of all time, might be in the next Fast and Furious movie got a little stoking this week. Vin Diesel teased Ronaldo’s potential appearance on Instagram a few days ago. Last night, Tyrese Gibson did something similar. There have been no official announcements, but it’s a fun idea and actually plausible.
Last weekend, Vin Diesel’s official IG account posted a picture of himself and Ronaldo with the caption: “Everyone asked, would he be in the Fast mythology… I gotta tell you he is a real one. We wrote a role for him… @cristiano.”
It’s a pretty weird picture—Ronaldo looks like a wax statue, camera distortion(?) makes Diesel’s hand look the same size as his head, and the dudes appear to be hanging out by a freight elevator. But it made the grid nevertheless.
Then last night, Tyrese Gibson, who’s been in the F&F crew since 2Fast 2Furious (“ejecto seato, cuz!”), posted this bizarre image on Facebook of cast members with Ronaldo welcoming him “to the family” with a mildly nonsensical caption. People in the comments there seem to be split on whether or not the image is AI; I do not think it’s real. But I guess the message is more significant than the illustration.
My theory, based on what’s out there, is that this is either a soft campaign to remind people Fast and Furious exists, or one to convince producers to green-light a fat check to get a Ronaldo cameo.
While I think both pictures we just looked at are suspect at best, the idea of Ronaldo appearing in a Fast and Furious movie is not at all far-fetched. The soccer star has been actively working his way into the entertainment biz—earlier this year, he announced he was opening a studio with British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn (who did Kingsman, Layer Cake, and some other good ones). Ronaldo, age 40, is surely looking for his next move after sports, and starring in movies would be a great high-salary pivot for the already super-famous soccer star.
There’s even precedent for soccer players appearing in Vin Diesel action flicks. Neymar Jr. had a scene in xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which came out the same year he went from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain (he’s at Santos FC in Brazil now). You can enjoy that here if you’re looking to procrastinate something for a few more minutes:
xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017) – Soccer Soldier Scene (1/10) | Movieclips
All this to say—Ronaldo in the next Fast and Furious? Absolutely plausible, reasonably likely, but as of this writing, not officially confirmed.
Got a tip? How about recommendations on how to become a soccer fan? Drop me a line at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.