Fast Five's Diverse Cast is a Hit

A Hit at the Box Office, the Latest Installment in the Fast and Furious Series is Also Winning Praise for Their Diverse Cast

Fast Five is a multi-racial, multi-record breaker, with the biggest opening for any movie this year so far.

It's the biggest film even for the month of April, and for Universal pictures.

Of course the hot people and hot cars in Fast Five are pure Hollywood, but one thing about this movie is not.

It's multi-ethnic main cast.

Every one of the five Fast and Furious films stands out for that reason.

It's what drew star Vin Diesel to the franchise after studios ignored him, he says, for being "too multi-cultural."

But it's the multi-racial Diesel and Dwayne Johnson who are this film's biggest stars.

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"Both of whom are sort of post-racial anyway, if you think about it. Like our President Obama. So the tensions that are existing in the film aren't around race.," according to Tim Cogshell, of Box Office Magazine.com. "They're around all sorts of issues, but it's not race, and I think that makes a big difference in the way that audiences can engage in this film.

Most big films feature main characters who are largely white, and that, Cogshell says, is where Hollywood often misses the mark.

"If you look in the executive suites of the studios of Hollywood, what you see are a lot of older, white faces," according to Cogshell. "Mostly white, male faces."

Cogshell says Fast Five proves audiences will race to theaters for a fantasy that looks like their reality.

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