Furious 7was one of the most difficult productions in Hollywood history. Not only was it the sixth sequel to a mega-franchise, with a horror director making his first foray into the action genre, but the film sadly lost one of its stars in the middle of shooting whenPaul Walkersadly passed away. DirectorJames Wanand the entire team had to first decide whether to keep going, then restructure the entire film in a way that still provided a satisfyingFast & Furiousexperience for fans, but also served as a tribute to franchise stalwart Walker. By all accounts, Wan and the team succeeded beautifully, but it didn’t come as a shock when Wan wasn’t eager to reprise directing duties on the series’ eighth installment.
The producers and star/producerVin Dieselset out to find a new director forFurious 8, and they landed on filmmakerF. Gary Gray, who not only has years of experience in a variety of genres with films likeThe Italian JobandTheNegotiator, but is coming off his biggest success to date with critical darling/box office smashStraight Outta Compton.
So when Steve got the chance to speak with Gray about the upcoming Blu-ray release ofStraight Outta Compton, he asked the director a bit about his plans forFurious 8. The directing gig for the filmwas a highly coveted job, and Gray reminisced about his first meeting with Diesel, whom he previously directed in 2003’sA Man Apart:
“[The meeting] was great. I went to [Vin’s] home and it was a reunion, cause I had already directed a movie with him earlier in my career, 15 years ago or so. We were both really excited to get back together and do it again. We talked about all of theFastmovies up to this point, and where could we go. I think he was really happy with the vision I have for the franchise and I was really happy about where he sees not only his character going but the franchise itself, because he’s a producer as well. So it was all love. Definitely all love.”
Steve asked whether Gray’s main focus for the film will be on expanding the scope of the action set pieces or diving deeper into the characters, and the filmmaker citedStar Wars: The Force Awakensas an influence:
“It’s a combination of both. When you look at someone likeJ.J. Abramswho 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 intention—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 what the fans want.”
Indeed, with the franchise now into its eighth installment there’s risk of getting stale, butFurious 7’s ending offered an opportunity to do a soft reboot of the franchise with the next movie. While Gray was tight-lipped about plot, he does promiseFurious 8is going to give fans a new flavor:
“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 characters they’ve come to know and love are there, but this is gonna be different, and that’s probably the most I can give you right now.”
Recent reports have surfaced that the production team hasscouted Cuba as a potential shooting locationfor the film, now that the United States has lifted the embargo on the country, but Gray declined to confirm any specifics when it comes to the locations of the sequel:
“I can say that we’ve flown around the world to scout, and it’s pretty profound some of the things that we’ve uncovered and how it’s gonna serve our story.”
The filmmaker didn’t say when filming begins but did confirm they’re deep into pre-production now, and with a release date of July 28, 2025 already set, I’d be surprised if cameras weren’t rolling before June. And hey, it’s possible that come tomorrow, we’ll havean Oscar nominee at the helm ofFurious 8shouldStraight Outta Comptonland a Best Picture nomination. Not too shabby for a 15-year-old action franchise.
