FURIOUS 8 Director Says It Will Be a Fresh Take on the Franchise
I thought the last Fast and Furious film would have made a solid ending to the franchise, but Universal Pictures wants to keep raking in the cash from it, so we are getting an eighth installment. Of course, people like me will keep watching them if they keeping making them. These films have been a lot of fun to watch.
There have been rumors that the plot of Furious 8 would take place in New York City, and we’ve also heard that the filmmakers are also looking to shoot in Cuba. I’m really hoping that this next film isn’t just going to be a carbon copy of what we’ve already seen, and according to director F. Gary Gray, that’s not going to be the case.
In an interview with Collider, the director talked about teaming up with Vin Diesel again. The two previously worked on the film A Man Apart. Gray talked about his first initial meeting with the actor:
“[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 the Fast movies 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.”
Explaing what we can expect to see from the film, he spoke about how J.J. Abrams influenced him:
“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 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.”
Finally, he went on to say that this next installment of the franchise is going to be a fresh take on it, and that it won’t be “more of the same.”
“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.”
Hopefully, he ends up giving fans something that will blow them away. Furious 8 is set for release April 14th, 2017.