Vin Diesel’s Replacement Director For Fast X Revealed?
News surrounding the production of Fast X, the next installment in the fan favorite high octane film series, has been moving along at a fast and furious pace. Last week, we were told that longtime franchise director, Justin Lin, would be exiting the project, leaving a big question mark over who may step in to fill his shoes. Today, Deadline has reported that action based director Louis Leterrier is the production’s number one prospective leader when it comes to the upcoming film.
While nothing has yet been set in stone for Leterrier to board the Vin Diesel led film, his chances are looking good. With the studio crossing their fingers for the filmmaker’s involvement in Fast X, the icing on the cake for his prospects is that Universal’s chief, Donna Langley, is quite close with Leterrier which certainly couldn’t hurt his possibilities But, like most things in the film industry, schedules will also need to line up. With the action flick already one week in on the cameras rolling, the crew is hoping to get back to work ASAP to avoid any further scheduling issues a slowdown could create. With this information, we can expect a speedy reply from Leterrier on whether or not he will be the movie’s new director.
Fast X would be in excellent hands if Leterrier signed on to put his visual spin on the project. The French filmmaker has backed a slew of blockbuster hits including the first two films in the action packed The Transporter series as well as the star studded 2013 thriller, Now You See Me. To be fair, he also helmed Marvel’s arguably worst film ever, Incredible Hulk, but we’ll let that one slide – everyone’s allowed to have a few flops! Regardless of that last title, Leterrier’s vision would fit in perfectly alongside a franchise more than two decades in the making. Currently, he’s been busy at work backing Netflix’s mystery series Lupin as its director, showrunner, and executive producer. He also linked up with the top streamer to direct the fantasy prequel series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
As for Fast X, those announcing Lin’s departure said that it was done under friendly terms citing a reason of “creative differences”. While he’ll no longer sit in the director’s chair, Lin will serve the feature as a producer alongside Diesel, Neal Moritz, Jeff Kirschenbaum, and Samantha Vincent. Lin also co-wrote the script with collaborator Dan Mazeau.
Along with the return of franchise favorite Diesel, Fast X will also see the familiar faces of Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Michael Rooker, and Charlize Theron, along with new-to-the-franchise actors Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, and Daniela Melchior. The feature is eying a May 19, 2023 release date and if all goes well with the speedy onboarding of either Leterrier or another director, fans should expect to still catch the feature at that time.
Fast X will be the second to last title in the long running franchise that helped launch the careers of several of its cast members. But there’s a catch. Fans who are bummed out to see the odyssey wrap up will be happy to know that the 11th film will only end what’s known as The Fast Saga, with more offshoots expected to head into production. For now, we’re wishing the team behind Fast X all the luck in finding their new fearless leader – even if it’s selfishly because we don’t want that release date to budge one bit!
