A Los Angeles neighborhood that served as the backdrop for the ‘Fast and Furious’ films was the scene of protests on Friday against the filming of the next installment. Protesters say the streets have since suffered an epidemic of illegal urban racing.
Residents expressed their anger ahead of the filming scheduled for this weekend in Angelino Heights, a historic district near downtown Los Angeles. The place is the fictional place of residence of Dominic Toretto, a character played by actor Vin Diesel in the film saga.
Damian Kevitt, a local resident and founder of SAFE, which speaks out against the practice, says ‘Fast and Furious’ has ‘glorified illegal activity’, turning Angelino Heights into a ‘tourist destination for street racing illegal’.
Speed bumps and warnings
‘Fridays, Saturdays, Sunday evenings, there will be, three, four, five, six cars coming here to do burnouts and donuts, maneuvers where the drivers squeal their tires, assures Damian Kevitt. “There were no street races in the neighborhood before ‘Fast and Furious’ was filmed there,” he adds.
Another resident, Bella, who declined to give her surname, says her children are traumatized by the noise of cars outside their home waking them up in the middle of the night. They are now too scared to go outside to play, she said.
For Bella, Universal Studios should move the filming location elsewhere, while SAFE urges the city to install speed bumps and establish zero tolerance for street racing. The association also asked Universal to add a mention in ‘Fast and Furious’ encouraging people not to take part in such races.
The first ‘Fast and Furious’ film was released in 2001. The franchise has since become the eighth highest grossing film series in box office history, raking in $6.6 billion in the space of 10 films . ‘Fast and Furious 10’, the 11th installment in the saga, is due out next May.
/ATS