How Jason Momoa improvised to make his character more entertaining in Fast X

Fast X, the most recent installment in the Fast and Furious series, was a big hit. With a fresh look, Dominic Toretto and his family made a comeback to face their old demons. One of the main antagonists in the movie was played by Jason Momoa, who has established himself as one of the top action performers in both the TV and movie industries thanks to appearances in Game of Thrones, Aquaman, and Dune. Even though the movie didn’t get a lot of good reviews, Momoa’s performance was praised by critics.

Dante will evolve in Fast and Furious

In a recent interview with Empire, director Louis Leterrier hinted, “It’s never twice the same with Jason. Dante will truly evolve. Let’s explore something we haven’t seen before.”

“He was fueled by vengeance,” Leterrier said. “He could have played it dark, angry. But it was interesting to play with the duality and the push-pull within the character, where within the same sentence he’s laughing and feels the pain of losing everything. Only an actor like Jason could have done that.”

Jason Momoa made up things about Dante on the spot

Leterrier praised Momoa for his presence of mind and gushed, “In that Brazil scene, he walked on set, saw the palm trees, and said, ‘I want to be a palm tree.’ And he put his hair in a bun like a palm tree. Our goal was to make each other laugh. If we were able to make each other crack up, we thought, ‘Okay, the audience will laugh.’”

He compared Dante to Superman’s Bizzaro, and said, “Dom drives a car, you ride a motorcycle. Dom has a shaved head, you have long hair. Dom is a man of few words, you love the sound of your voice.”

“He lets Dom punch him out. He fights as well as Dom, but he’s twisted. If you look deeply into his psyche, he’s lonely. He’s fun and flamboyant, but he’s alone. He’s created his own world in his head. He’s not on the same plane of reality that we are.”

Read next: Vin Diesel supposedly isn’t pleased with Jason Momoa’s Fast X performance