'Furious 8': F. Gary Gray Confirms He Will Direct

Yahoo Movies
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F. Gary Gray (Photo: Picture Perfect/Rex Shutterstock)

By Justin Kroll

Following Vin Diesel’s news that F. Gary Gray is his choice to direct Fast and Furious 8, the Straight Outta Compton director has made it official.

The director tweeted he has come on to direct the next installment of the series, which begins filming next year.

Diesel is back to star along with Dwayne Johnson, Ludacris, and Tyrese Gibson. Jason Statham and Kurt Russell are also expected to return.

Diesel is also producing along with Neal Moritz.

Universal along with Diesel and Moritz have been hard at work searching for their next director after Fast and Furious 7 helmer James Wan decided to not helm the eighth installment. Universal went back to Justin Lin who had previously helmed four of the installments but his schedule conflicts with Star Trek 3 forced him to fall out of the running.

Other helmers who met included The Signal Will Eubank, The Guest Adam Wingard, and Louis Leterrier but in the end it was Gray who won the approval of both execs and Diesel. The Fast and Furious posted on Facebook Tuesday night that he had met with Gray and was hopeful the helmer would join the shoot but at the time no deal had been made.

With Gray now on board, the film looks well in line for its spring start date with pre-production ramping up in the coming weeks.

Gray had become one of the hottest helmers in town after successfully bringing the N.W.A. biopic to life. The film not only over-performed at the box office (more than $150 million on a $20 million budget) but drew critical acclaim that make people think the film has a shot at one of the best picture slots at next year’s Oscars.

Gray is repped by UTA.