KRABI — Can you hear the engines roaring? Filming for the next “Fast and Furious” movie began in Thailand’s South on Monday.
The first day of filming in the 340-million baht production for the Hollywood action flick “Fast and Furious 9” began at a palm plantation in Khao Thong, Krabi.
The site was cordoned off from the public, with security guards patrolling to catch anyone looking to have a sneak peak of what Dom and his friends are up to after they prevented nuclear war in the last instalment.
Locals reportedly went about life as usual as they had been notified of the filming.
“Although I wanted to see what was going on, the crew asked us not to enter the filming site,” local Winai Kan-ngen told a Khaosod reporter. “I complied as the filming has brought income to our village. Locals were hired to remove grass and flatten the land.”
The production is set to span across the Southern provinces of Krabi, Phang Nga, Phuket, and Surat Thani until July 27, according to local production manager Peston Films.
However, the head of the filming permit commission Narisroj Fuangrabil took to Facebook on Wednesday to confirm that lead actors including Vin Diesel and Jason Statham were not in Thailand but shooting in the UK and US. A stuntman will perform their chase scenes instead.
Earlier in June, photos of cars on Thai streets reportedly to be used in “Fast and Furious” went viral on social media, prompting speculation that the next instalment in the series would be filmed in Thailand.
The release date is expected to be on May 22, 2020.
Correction: An earlier version of this article contained errors regarding the presence of lead actors in Thailand. The error has been corrected.
