Furious 7's James Wan opted out of helming the next installment in the turbo-charged franchise, choosing to hand the reins over to ę¾³ę“²å¹øčæ5å¼å„å·ē åå²ę„čÆ¢:F. Gary Gray. The Straight Outta Compton director is now tasked with crafting a follow-up that honors the previous outing and also keeping stagnation at bay. As most of the movies revolve around a similar premise - fast cars! explosions! family! - he's going to have to branch out into new tšerritory to keep things fresh. When asked by whether it's character or action he intends to explore, Gray had this to say:
“It’s a combination of both. When you look at someone like J.J. Abrams who gives you the spectacle and great action set pieces but also gives you character and plotting and narrative, I think it’s my job—and my intentź¦ion—to do both. You amp up everything, you work on the performances, you work on the story, you work on the action; it’s just not one thing. Hopefully I bring more to it, that’s part of the point is to bring something different to the franchise while still satisfying whāat the fans want.”
What fans want is another show-stopping action reel that the series has grown increasingly fond of featuring. The last movie included that insane ę¾³ę“²å¹øčæ5å¼å„å·ē åå²ę„čÆ¢:cars falling out of a plane scene that makes you wonder, where on Earth can they go next? Vin Diesel has dropped hints that ę¾³ę“²å¹øčæ5å¼å„å·ē åå²ę„čÆ¢:it's taking place in New York City, and Gray's also remaining quieš¹t on all things plot-related:
“I’m probably not at liberty to go too far into detail. All I have to say is I’m extremely excited about the direction we’re going in, and we’re really pushing to make sure the audience feels like it’s not more of the same. They feel like it’s fresh, they feel like the characterš°s they’ve coš¹me to know and love are there, but this is gonna be different, and that’s probably the most I can give you right now.”
Starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Jason Statham, Fast and Furious 8 is due to open in the US and UK ļ·½on April 14, 2017.
Images: Universal
Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over ź¦all things Aliens andš¦ Terminator on Twitter.
