DUBAI // Fans of the Fast & Furious film franchise will have to wait a bit longer to find out whether the next instalment is to be filmed here.
Vin Diesel, who stars in and produces the films, triggered the frenzied speculation when he said in an interview that parts of Fast & Furious 7 would be shot in the Middle East.
Fans immediately jumped to conclusions and suggested the wide, straight roads of Dubai would be the perfect setting for the street racing saga.
However a top executive at Universal Pictures, which makes the films, has now revealed that the locations for the next film have not yet been finalised.
"At this point we do not have any firm location to share," said Kori Bernards, senior vice president of communications.
Diesel, who plays Dominic "Dom" Toretto, referred to the Middle East while publicising Fast & Furious 6, which was released last month. He was asked about plans for the seventh film by the entertainment news website Digital Spy, and replied: "We will have a stint in Tokyo and there is the Middle East next, that could be very interesting."
The remark triggered a flurry of comment on Twitter and elsewhere.
"Rumor has it Fast and Furious 7 might be shot in #Dubai ... wonder if they'll include the police fleet of Super Cars," tweeted @DushiX.
"#FAST7 on their way to Dubai WOWW." And "They said Fast&Furious 7 will be filmed in Dubai. Lolz! How many radars will catch them."
Dubai proved it had the capacity to host a major Hollywood shoot in 2010 when parts of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol were shot here. Tom Cruise was memorably filmed clinging to the outside of the Burj Khalifa, and other scenes were shot elsewhere in the city.
Fast & Furious 7 is due to be released in July 2014.
csimpson@thenational.ae
