Oscar winner Charlize Theron said it was an exciting challenge to play the main villain in the latest instalment of the "Fast and Furious" racing film series with Vin Diesel.

"This is a franchise that has been built for 16 years on this idea of family being kind of the cornerstone ... and to play a character that has to kind of break all of that up, it was fun, yeah, and challenging," Theron said at the Berlin premiere of "The Fate of the Furious."

Diesel was also on hand for the release of the film, which is being marketed in Europe as "Fast and Furious 8" and features the signature fast car chases, daring stunts and explosions of the previous seven films.

"The Fate of the Furious" sees Diesel's lead character Dominic Toretto go rogue. Theron, who won a best actress Academy Award for "Monster", plays the villainous Cipher.

Diesel told reporters he felt as though he had "let the world down" when he left the film franchise several years ago because he was dissatisfied with the script.

The film, directed by F. Gary Gray, also stars Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and Tyrese Gibson.