It’s been five days since Justin Lin pulled the brake lever on Fast & Furious 7, opting not to direct the movie thanks to general exhaustion and the breakneck pace at which Universal wanted the next entry in the speedy series made. We ran a little poll asking for your ideas as to who could take on the job, and while plenty of suggestions were made, the studio has gone in another direction. No, cynics, the executives didn’t decide it should be “no one”; they’re in negotiations with Saw man James Wan.
According to Deadline, Lin apparently let it be known a while ago that he was out, which has given Universal time to find someone new. Among those considered were Kick-Ass 2’s Jeff Wadlow, The Karate Kid’s Harald Zwart and Contraband’s Baltasar Kormakur. But Wan won the job despite his CV containing almost exclusively horror pics like the Saw series and Insidious, though Death Sentence had more action in it.
He also has Lin’s endorsement: “I’m extremely proud to be part of the Fast franchise, it is an experience I will always treasure,” Lin says in a statement. “It’s time for me to move on to other things and I’m thrilled that Universal and Neal (Moritz, producer) have selected James Wan to lead the franchise into its new chapter.”
Wan, who will release his next horror pic The Conjuring on July 19, has been considering the big screen revival of MacGyver and has already shot his next, Insidious: Chapter 2.
Fast & Furious 7, written once more by Chris Morgan, is gearing up to shoot this summer for a 2014 release. Two new character posters for Fast 6 – due here on May 17 – are now online and can be seen below.