Before that, the franchise was ushered into its most lucrative period by Justin Lin, who helmed installments three through six.
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He edged out the likes of Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk“), Adam Wingard (“The Guest“) and William Eubank (“The Signal“).
There’s also rumors of Gray being up for consideration to direct the upcoming Black Panther flick. Nine hours ago, Diesel replaced his Facebook cover photo with the one above (without a caption), which seems to suggest that he’s settled on Gray; especially since it was his cover photo that he changed, and not just a picture he shared on his feed.
It’s been an intense few weeks for Vin Diesel in deciding who should helm “Furious 8″. His goal when he was younger was to direct his first film by the age of 45.
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The ongoing search was made public when Diesel plugged himself and Rob Cohen – the original Fast and Furious director – as candidates. At the time, Diesel said they are looking to close out the franchise with a final trilogy. In a year that also saw the studio release Fifty Shades of Grey, Jurassic World, Minions, and Furious 7, Straight Outta Compton pushed the studio’s revenue past the $2 billion mark at the yearly domestic box office. Gray’s credits include thrillers and action movies such as The Italian Job, The Negotiator and Law Abiding Citizen. Universal Pictures will deliver Furious 8 for an April 14, 2017 release. The trio are to meet with star Vin Diesel. In 2003, he directed A Man Apart, starring Diesel. He was very hard to deal with during the production, criticizing every inch of the action sequences, adding up to the complexity of producing the film, especially when it was only halfway done when Paul Walker died.
