The eight installment of 'Fast and Furious' movie series reportedly struggles to find a director after James Wan and Justin Lin decided to leave the franchise.
- Sep 24, 2015
AceShowbiz - "Furious 7" is an undoubtedly smash hit, grossing more than $1.5 billion at worldwide box office. While making "Fast and Furious 8" is a no brainer, it seems like the project has encountered serious problems to get off the starting blocks. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Universal still struggles to find a director for the upcoming movie.
The studio initially tapped "Furious 7" director James Wan to get back behind the lens for the eight and ninth installments of "Fast and Furious" movie series. The plan changed as Wan informed the studio that he decided to helm "The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist". Universal was fine with Wan's decision and eyed Justin Lin, the director of four "Fast and Furious" films. The hope to bring back Lin faded away as he chose to work on "Star Trek Beyond" at Paramount Pictures rather than returning to Universal.
The studio then went back to Wan with an offer of "life-altering money" to direct "Furious 8". However, Wan seems to have a trauma after directing "Furious 7". He turned down the deal reportedly because he was exhausted. He worked too hard on "Furious 7", especially after Paul Walker's untimely death. Wan had to complete the production which was still half-done when Walker dead. He should rewrite the script and reshoot some scenes with special effects to resurrects Walker for his character.
Meanwhile, Vin Diesel was said to be another reason to make Wan leave director's chair. Rumors said that the 48-year-old actor was apparently hard to work with. "As a producer, he is said to have questioned even small details on elaborate action sequences, often holding up the complex production. He also was known to summon filmmakers to repeated late-night script sessions to make him comfortable with his character and dialogue," report said.
However, representatives for Diesel denied the rumor immediately, saying that it was "complete nonsense." With no director attached, the studio worries that Diesel has a strong ambition to direct one of the films himself.
