EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Tyrese Gibson, ‘The Fate of the Furious’ & Voltron Jeeps

The Fate of the Furious star Tyrese Gibson is a man of many talents. From acting to entrepreneurship, Gibson has a full plate, but he took a moment to fill us in on what he’s been up to lately. Not only did Gibson dish on the new Fast & Furious installment and why he was initially against the film, he talked about his collaboration on jeeps with Voltron Motors, and his passionate love for … Red Lobster. Get the details on Gibson’s latest below. And, don’t forget to look out for a couple of Gibson’s new jeeps in The Fate of the Furious.


Heavy: Okay, so before we get into all the Fast & Furious stuff, I hear you have a major obsession with Red Lobster?
Gibson: Yeah, it’s pretty serious. It’s a real love affair. It’s been happening since I was a kid. I grew up in South Central LA, very unfortunate situation. Made the best of it. My mother was a single mom and she barely had any month left at the end of each month. Occasionally, she would get extra money and take the family to Red Lobster. It was a happy place for me.

Gibson even let us know that when he’s on set or doing gigs, he actually has it worked into his contract that he gets Red Lobster in his dressing room. He doesn’t really drink or smoke, but he loves lobster bisque, salmon, mashed potatoes, you name it. He’s just a regular, down-to-earth guy.

Heavy: When you go there, what’s your favorite things to order? I like those biscuits.
Gibson: When the biscuits come out on the table, that’s always a beautiful thing. What i love, is I love the snow crab legs, the lobster bisque with extra lobster, and I love the platters. You feel like your getting so much.

Heavy: Okay, so tell me about what’s going on with your character Roman in The Fate of the Furious. You always bring that comic relief to the movie.
Gibson: This time, we’re just trying to get to the bottom of why Dominic’s character turned his back on the family. It’s so random, so crazy, caught us all off guard. We’re on a mission for the full movie to find out why. For me, I was totally against the idea of doing a movie like this until I saw it. I need to leave scripts alone because I was blown away and production knows what they’re doing.

Heavy: What were some of the crazy stunts that went on during filming this one?
Gibson: Iceland. The entire sequence in Iceland is nothing you’ve ever seen. It was 28 below zero during filming. And now, I not only hate the cold, I literally hate the cold. [Laugh]

Heavy: Why is it that Fast and the Furious fans are so dedicated and die-hard?
Gibson: For me, I feel like we all grew up together and it’s been fifteen years and it’s like this is one of the movies that you can really take your wife, your kid, everyone to at one time. It’s a movie that everyone enjoys. Between adrenaline, the cars, this is national geographic all over the world. We were the first production to actually shoot in Cuba. It was a crazy, crazy experience. We’re going to put Cuba on the map in a special way.

Heavy: Any other projects going on right now?
Gibson: Actually, I launched my own brand of jeeps, two Voltron Motors jeeps that are featured in the movie. One is the Voltron Rebel Jeep and it is one of the biggest hits. It has a V-8 engine supercharged and it’s an off-road killer. I’m very proud because I’m all about this adrenaline life, from “Transformers” to “Fast and Furious”.

As for what’s next for the Fast & Furious franchise, there is already a 9th installment in the works, but Gibson’s lips are sealed on that one, so fans will just have to wait.