Strap in and buckle up because F. Gary Gray has confirmed that he’ll be jumping behind the wheel to direct Furious 8.
Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel had previously said he wanted the Straight Outta Compton director to helm the next movie in the franchise, and today Gray tweeted out that he will in fact take on the job of guiding cars out of planes and through buildings.
Cant ask for better partners than Vin, Neal & Universal. Excited to bring u the next chapter of the #FastFamily saga pic.twitter.com/zRGre14kKO
— F Gary Gray (@FGaryGray) October 8, 2015
Gray’s Straight Outta Compton was a huge commercial and critical success, earning over $150 million on a movie that only had a $20 million budget. The series needed a new director after Furious 7 director James Wan passed on the opportunity to continue. Reports also say that Universal asked Justin Lin, director of four movies in the franchise, but he had scheduling problems.
Based on the Facebook photo posted by Diesel of him and Gray sitting in front of a board with what appears to be shots from the previous films, the new director isn’t wasting any time becoming like family with his star.
Furious 8 will begin filming next year and will return Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson, with Jason Statham and Kurt Russell possibly returning as well. You’ll have to find some other way to get your cinematic adrenaline shot for a bit though, because the film has a release date of April 14th, 2017.
Which Fast and Furious movie is your favorite? What about your favorite scene? Feel the rush of sharing your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
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HT: Variety
Image: Facebook/Vin Diesel
