Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray has been in charge of shepherding the eighth instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise since last October. Now, talking to Collider, he's revealed a little of what he intends to do with the new film.
Primarily, it appears that Gray wants to keep the characters growing while also maintaining the crazy level of stunt work to which audiences have become accustomed. “It’s a combination of both," he says. "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.”
And while he's not able to be too specific just yet (what, no details on whether there will be a stunt involving Vin Diesel driving between four skyscrapers this time?), he knows what he intends. "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.”
Locations such as New York and even Cuba have been touted as likely places to shoot this time around, but Gray wouldn't be drawn on specifics. The film itself will be out on April 14, 2017, which means the cameras and the cars will be rolling this year.