Women Behind the Wheel

With the UK release of Speed Sisters, the tale of the first all woman racing team in the Middle East, coming round the bend to cinemas next week (with preview Q&As!), we take a look some other kick-ass women who have proved their skills behind the wheel.

Angelina Jolie in Gone In Sixty Seconds (2000)

Jolie plays Sara ‘Sway’ Wayland, the ex lover of Memphis (Nicolas Cage) who after hesitation completes a crew which is planning a car heist.

Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Theron plays Imperator Furiosa, a war leader who drives a War Rig in Immortan Joe’s (Hugh Keays-Byrne) fanatical army. She was kidnapped when she was a child and is desperate to get back to her people.

Michelle Rodriguez in The Fast And The Furious (2001)

Rodriguez plays Letty, Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) daredevil girlfriend and partner in crime who proves her love for Dominic and fearlessness in the street racing world.

Sandra Bullock in Speed (1994)

Bullock plays Annie Porter, a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time who helps to keep a city bus driving above 50mph in order to prevent a bomb from exploding.

Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma And Louise (1991)

Sarandon and Davis play Louise and Thelma, two friends from Arkansas who embark on a road trip to escape their dreary lives in a 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible, causing a lot of trouble in the process.

Penelope Pitstop in Wacky Races

The fictional cartoon character voiced by Janet Waldo, drives a pink Compact Pussycat with all the features a girl needs in order to race against her male competitors.

Nadia Bjorlin in Redline (2007)

Bjorlin plays Natasha a young, attractive automobile fanatic who finds herself caught up in illegal drag-racing competitions organised by car fanatics.

Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Ridley plays Rey, a scavenger who was left behind on the planet Jakku when she was a child. Upon meeting Finn (John Boyega) she becomes involved with the Resistance to fight against the First Order and proves her skills flying the Millennium Falcon.

Faye Dunaway in Bonnie And Clyde (1967)

Dunaway plays Bonnie in the biographical crime film who becomes Clyde’s (Warren Beatty) partner in crime as the notoriously violet bank robbing couple.

Bonnie Bedelia in Heart Like A Wheel (1983)

Bedelia plays Shirley Muldowney, a determined drag racer who pursues her dream to be the best despite the risks of racing and the pressure it puts on her family life.

Tracie Thoms in Death Proof (2007)

Tracie Thoms plays Kim, a self-proclaimed “gearhead” stunt woman, in Tarantino's Death Proof. In the films' final act, Kim and her friends give the psychotic Stunt Man Mike (Kurt Russell) more than a run for his money while driving a 1970 Dodge Challenger 440 Magnum in a frantic high-speed chase across Tennessee.

 

Preview Screenings + Q&As with Director Amber Fares and Speed Sisters Team Manager Maysoon Jayyusi: