F. Gary Gray Looks Set To Direct Fast & Furious 8

**UPDATE: **As Gray himself tweets below, this is now official, and Gray has taken the job.

Following an unusually protracted search, it looks very much as if Fast & Furious 8 has finally found its director. One of those 'director shortlist' stories emerged overnight, suggesting that F. Gary Gray, Louis Leterrier (The Transporter), William Eubank (The Signal) , Ericson Core (the Point Break remake), Adam Wingard (You're Next) and original F&F helmer Rob Cohen were all in the mix. But while nothing has yet been officially announced, Vin Diesel's posting of the above picture - of himself and Gray with a pinboard of F&F images between them - on his megahorn Facebook page very much suggests that Gray is the winner.

Gray is coming off the hit NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, and has previous with Diesel, having directed him in the action drama A Man Apart in 2003. He also made Law Abiding Citizen in 2009, and the remake of The Italian Job in 2003, the latter in particular proving that he can handle big-budget studio action. And cars. He's worked with Dwayne Johnson too, on 2005's Get Shorty sequel Be Cool.

James Wan (F&F 7), Justin Lin (F&Fs 3-6) and Jaume Collet-Serra (Run All Night) all previously passed on the massive gig due to other commitments: Wan to The Conjuring 2, Robotech and Aquaman, Lin to Star Trek Beyond and Collet-Serra to The Shallows.

“My producing partner Neal (Moritz) would love for me to just sign off on a director," Diesel said last week, "but this is too special a franchise, so these matters have to be very carefully handled. Universal has been so good to me and so trusting of the vision... they have been like family. I promised the studio I would deliver one last trilogy to end the saga. I will announce the directors on my next post...”

He didn't, and that plural "directors" remains interesting (if it wasn't just a typo), suggesting he and the studio might be planning a back-to-back situation to knock out two more entries. So there may be another announcement to follow imminently. We will, of course, keep you posted.

We'll next see Diesel in The Last Witch Hunter, out in the UK on October 21.