On April 22nd, Vin Diesel posted a 19-second video on Instagram recapitulating the first week of production of Fast X, the latest entry in Universal’s 21-year-old franchise. In the clip, Diesel sneaks up on Justin Lin to ask the film’s director and co-writer how he’s feeling at the end of the first week of production.
As Diesel grins into his selfie camera, Lin, seated and seemingly uncomfortable, nods his head while trying to find the right words.
“It feels like the beginning of an epic ending,” says Lin flatly.
On the surface, Lin was referring to planned back-to-back filming of the 10th and 11th installments in the action franchise, which are rumored to complete the saga of Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his “Fast” family.
Instead, Lin, who has directed five of the franchise’s ten episodes, may have inadvertently predicted the end of his time at the controls of Fast X. Just four days later, the 50-year-old filmmaker announced he would no longer be directing the film.
“With the support of Universal, I have made the difficult decision to step down as director of ‘Fast X’ while remaining on the project as producer,” Lin said in a statement posted to the film’s official social media handle.
The news came as a massive shock to fans, who see Lin as one of the main architects of the series’ approach to heart, humor and car mayhem since he embarked on the project in 2006 with The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. Since then, he’s helmed some of the most critically acclaimed episodes, including 2011’s Fast Five, and taking the films’ stunts to new — and literally not — with his return in 2021’s F9: The Fast Saga out of this world – heights led.
Lin’s departure was reportedly “amicable” and resulted in “creative differences”. But producing millions of franchise days has put Universal in the rare and unenviable position of finding a replacement in time to meet its scheduled May 19, 2023 theatrical release date.
Universal representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The biggest challenge in production is time. Sources tell Variety the second unit will continue production in the UK while the main unit is on hiatus until a replacement director is hired. Until then, the production is burning cash keeping key crew members and cast members in limbo. Sources from various studios with experience replacing directors midstream estimated it could cost Universal between $600,000 and $1 million a day. Much of the cost depends on whether production was already underway on key set pieces – the bigger the action beats, the more expensive the delay – suggesting Lin made his decision to close the director’s chair so early in the shoot to avoid offsetting major cost overruns further down the production calendar.
It also features the franchise’s newest stars, Jason Momoa and Brie Larson, as well as Charlize Theron, who returns for a third appearance as villain Cipher. All three are dedicated to ongoing franchises that require their time and attention, so delays could require some hasty and costly changes to accommodate their busy schedules.
Observers have noted that Lin’s announcement was made on the Fast and Furious social media channels rather than by Lin’s reps or his personal social media channels — and it was formatted in the franchise’s official font. Given the formalities involved, it was likely that Universal was informed of its decision somewhat in advance and therefore had more time to begin searching for a replacement.
The most logical answer to replacing him would be to use someone already familiar with the mechanics of the franchise. The problem is that besides Lin, only five directors have helmed a Fast and Furious film: Rob Cohen (2001’s The Fast and the Furious), the late John Singleton (2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious), James Wan (2015 Furious 7), F Gary Gray (2017 The Fate of the Furious) and David Leitch (2019 Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw).
Wan, Gray and Leitch would all be viable options – if they weren’t employed. About an hour after it was announced that Lin would be stepping down as director, Wan took the stage at CinemaCon Las Vegas previewing Warner Bros.’ Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is still in post-production and is scheduled for a March 2023 release. This film has elaborate special effects that make it almost impossible for Wan to divert his attention to anything else. Gray is currently filming Lyft for Netflix, starring Kevin Hart, and Leitch will soon begin production on Universal’s Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling.
Meanwhile, Cohen hasn’t directed a film since 2018, shortly before he became embroiled in personal controversy involving multiple allegations of sexual assault. (Cohen officials have disputed these claims).
A rival studio head speculated that Universal might be looking for an experienced second-unit director, particularly one who is knowledgeable about big-budget action films, to come on board to oversee the sequel. An A-list filmmaker may not be willing to join the series without requiring changes to the script or additional time to make his way into the story.
In addition, it is known that Diesel, the “Fast and Furious” OG, is the real driver of the franchise. He’s also the film’s producer and hasn’t shied away from publicly expressing his displeasure with creative choices made by others. On April 20, Diesel revealed that the first draft of the “Fast X” script, believed to have been written by Lin and co-writer Dan Mazeau, didn’t include Jordana Brewster’s character Mia, who fans know is also Dom’s sister . “I was so disappointed I couldn’t see how to move on,” Diesel wrote. The actor prevailed and eventually Brewster joined the film.
There were other bumps in the road to production of Fast X, including Diesel’s feud with Dwayne Johnson, who joined the crew with Fast Five and then famously refused to share the set for Fate with him. When Diesel publicly suggested Johnson return for the new film, Johnson — just as publicly — closed it down.
“I said [Diesel] straight up that I wouldn’t be returning to the franchise,” Johnson said in a CNN interview. “I was firm but heartfelt with my words, saying that I would always support the cast and always advocate for the franchise’s success, but that there was no chance I would return.”
Diesel also attempted to recruit Rita Moreno to cast the film as Doms Abuela, but scheduling prevented the EGOT-winner from appearing. “I said, ‘I’ll take a rain check,’ and we became friends,” Moreno told Variety in March.
Despite his influence, however, the odds that Diesel will end up getting the directing gig don’t seem high. Although he directed the 2009 short film Los Bandoleros — a prequel to Dom’s return to the franchise in 2009’s Fast and Furious after skipping the second and third parts — Diesel has only directed one feature film 1997’s “Strays.” Universal will almost certainly need a more experienced hand to take on such a massive production that’s already underway.
Certainly, the actor’s ambitions for Fast X are clear. In his video with Lin, he asks the filmmaker, “Is it fair to say this is going to be the best?”
Lin shrugs. “In my heart, yes.”
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