Summary
- Jason Momoa’s flamboyant and sadistic performance as Dante in Fast X received widespread praise, with audiences calling him a standout of the movie.
- Director Louis Leterrier reveals that they had to tone down Momoa’s performance after test screenings due to reactions from viewers.
- However, not everyone appreciated Momoa’s portrayal, with some critics finding it self-indulgent and over-the-top, making Dante come across as more of a psychopathic clown than a menacing villain.
Fast X director Louis Leterrier says Jason Momoa’s terrifying villain was actually toned down. The Game of Thrones, Aquaman, and Dune star made his Fast & Furious franchise debut in the latest installment as Dante Reyes, the son of drug lord Hernan Reyes who is seeking revenge against Dom and his crew for the death of his father and loss of his family’s fortune in Fast Five. In Fast X, Momoa’s sadistic and flamboyant performance was one of the most talked about of the summer.
During a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Leterrier says they actually had to tone back Momoa’s performance as Dante for the final cut after seeing some audience reactions during test screenings. The Fast X director also shared some insight into what Momoa’s flamboyant performance brought to the Fast & Furious franchise. Read what Leterrier shared below:
Because we’re consummate professionals, we had dialed it so I would have been able to take it down in the cutting room if need be. But frankly, as we started testing, and we saw the reactions of the crowds, we just decided to go almost fully in the direction that we had done. Really we went from, from one to 11, we passed the 10 in some of the scenes and we dialed it back sometimes.He created this breath of eccentricity and excitement that I thought Fast & Furious was in need of. Just to have an exterior character bringing the craziness was actually needed. As much as I like them going to space and everything, I didn’t want Fast to become too much of a comedy. But then you can bring a flamboyant, comedic character in it and still make him threatening and you can keep the earnestness of what makes Fast & Furious fantastic.Sometimes in these movies when you cut away to the villain, they’re so sour, so bored, and so angry, that you’re like, “Yeah, it’s my time to go to the bathroom.” But really, whenever you cut away from the Dom Toretto story and you went to Dante, I could see the audience perk up, and go, “What now?”
Is Jason Momoa’s Performance in Fast X Too Over The Top?
Fast X divided critics with its rehashed plot and outlandish action, though Momoa’s performance as Dante was widely praised. His gleeful portrayal of a psychopath drew comparisons to The Joker. Audiences also gushed over the performance, calling it the standout of the movie. Dante is almost certainly the Fast & Furious franchise’s most unhinged villain yet, exemplified by the scene in which he paints a corpse’s toenails and chats with them about his master plan. If this is the toned-down version of Momoa’s villain, it would be shocking to see what it was originally like.
However, Momoa’s performance as Dante wasn’t met with universal acclaim. The performance was criticized for being too self-indulgent, exaggerated, and over-the-top, rendering a character who comes off as a psychopathic clown rather than a truly menacing villain. No matter one’s opinion of Momoa’s performance in Fast X, it seems fitting that the franchise’s goofiest villain yet, Dante, will serve as the final boss for the franchise which is only becoming more outlandish with each installment.
Source: GamesRadar+
