'Furious 7' - April 3rd, 2015

[Walts Ghost]

Here’s The Rumored ‘Fast and Furious 7′ Director Short List

Though Fast and Furious fans are excited to be getting a new film soon, many took a moment of silence this week for Justin Lin‘s departure from the series. The director of the third, fourth, fifth and now sixth installments recently revealed that he wouldn’t return for Fast and Furious 7. Universal wants to rush it out next year, and he didn’t feel the schedule was creatively workable. This is the guy who took a franchise about racing cars a quarter mile at a time and turned it into a bona fide blockbuster action franchise. His touch will be missed.

That leaves Fast and Furious 7 in need of a director and Latino-Review is reporting three men are currently on the short list. They are Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2), Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid).

According to Latino-Review, those are the three guys currently in the running for the gig, which will be scripted by Chris Morgan. Let’s break down each one.

Though Wadlow had directed two smaller films, he was on very few radars until he got the job directing Kick-Ass 2. That film isn’t out yet and reaction to the trailer has been decidedly mixed, but, I’m holding off judgement. It’s gonna be hard to know what Wadlow can do before seeing the full film, which he also adapted. Kick-Ass 2 is a Universal film, just like Fast and Furious 7, so if he’s in consideration for their largest action franchise, that at least bodes well for Kick-Ass.

Furman is another guy who was lingering around and then made a big splash. His coming out party was 2011′s The Lincoln Lawyer, a surprisingly taut and entertaining film. It’s not very heavy on action, but it did lead Furman do direct the upcoming Runner, Runner starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake, which will be more action-oriented. He’s obviously stepping us his game.

While the original Karate Kid is light years ahead of the new one, Zwart actually did a solid job with it. It was his first hit after helming such gems as One Night at McCools and The Pink Panther 2 and it lead him to this Summer’s major question mark, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. That film could be another Twilight (in that’s it’s awful, teen drivel) or another Hunger Games (in that it’s better teen drivel). Which one is yet to be seen. But it’s certainly the biggest film any of these three directors have made.

All these directors are undoubtedly on the rise. However each is a huge question mark and none are particularly exciting choices. They all have action experience under their belt, but we can’t judge it as each director’s action film has yet to be released. None of those films are close to the scope that’s going to be needed for Fast and Furious 7 though so, to me, it’s a toss up. Any of them could potentially make a good film. We’ll likely find out the studio’s decision this week as pre-production the seventh film has to start very soon for a 2014 release.

Who do you think should direct Fast and Furious 7?

Source

[Pounder]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

Source

As long as it's not the director of that drivel John Carter.

Out of the list I would choose Furman.

[cjones235]

Fast 7 is gonna suck any director that takes over for lin is only signing on for a cash grab. Stupid studios here you have a director who saved your franchise from becoming direct to video dreck and this is how you repay him. Screw you universal. I for one will not being paying to seeing this car wreck waiting to happen. Why don't they just get john moore the guy who directed the worst die hard movie of all time while their at it. I'm so pissed the f&@k off right now.

[Samus Aran]

What? No Brett Ratner?

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

What? No Brett Ratner?

He's actually working on another film, otherwise.

[Pounder]

Maybe theyll go to another asian, John Chu, who directed GI Joe retaliation.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by pgestradasp1

Maybe theyll go to another asian, John Chu, who directed GI Joe retaliation.

No, thank you!!!!!

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by cjones235

Fast 7 is gonna suck any director that takes over for lin is only signing on for cash grab. Stupid studios here you have a director who saved your franchise from becoming direct to video dreck and this is how you repay him. Screw you universal. I for one will not being paying to seeing this car wreck waiting to happen. Why don't they just get john moore the guy who directed the worst die hard movie of all time while their at it. I'm so pissed the f&@k off right now.

Ok, I already said this to you in the other thread, but I'll post it here too:

Now, lets not jump to conclusions. At least 'F&F 7' has a script already. That's at least a start to a better film. They shouldn't rush it, yes, but I'm not going to count it down and out yet. The rumored short list of directors really isn't half bad either: Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2), Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid). I am especially hoping that they go with Furman. I think it would be interesting to see where he'd go with the film. I loved the hell out of 'The Lincoln Lawyer', I think he'd bring the series to a very proper finale.

That all said, yes, they probably should have shot them back to back, but hindsight is 20/20. There's no guarantee this film is going to suck. We've known from the beginning of this new film there would be two more, it was always in the cards. That's more than I can say for rushing the film with no script through production. Yes, Universal is getting trigger happy to release it so soon, but that doesn't mean the film is going to be bad. We don't know WHEN next summer, or anything like that. They have plenty of time to turn out a good film still.

[Bucky]

I still think they should have done the Hobbs spinoff film for next year and then have Fast & Furious 7 released in 2015 so that Lin would have time, but what do I know.

[Foggy]

I'm not sold on Wadlow yet on the Kick-Ass sequel (and the fact they're already considering for this makes me a little worried around the quality of Kick-Ass 2). But the other two seem cool, as long as it's not John Moore or Olivier Megaton, we're still in the clear.

[Pounder]

Originally Posted by Foggy

I'm not sold on Wadlow yet on the Kick-Ass sequel (and the fact they're already considering for this makes me a little worried around the quality of Kick-Ass 2). But the other two seem cool, as long as it's not John Moore or Olivier Megaton, we're still in the clear.

[cinemaphile]

That "short list" was rumors and BS. (What?!? Latino Review running BS stories/rumors/news?!? The Hell you say!! )

Here it is - I'd say the quote at the end from Justin Lin confirms this is the real deal:

JAMES WAN Is Universal’s Choice To Helm ‘The Fast And The Furious 7′

Really? The guy behind Saw and Insidious deserves this?!? I guess maybe Universal just considers asian directors interchangeable?

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has begun negotiations with James Wan to direct the seventh installment of the studio’s mega-buck franchise The Fast And The Furious. I expect a deal to be made probably before the week is out.

Justin Lin made it clear back at the Sundance Film Festival in January that he wasn’t going to direct the next pic after revitalizing that franchise and helming its last four installments including the upcoming May 24 opener Fast & Furious 6. He wanted to take a break, and while he wasn’t going back to The Terminator, he still considered the reboot of Highlander a possibility at Summit. Universal Pictures has had plenty of time to consider who’ll take over the race car franchise, and recently they have been working from a very short list. Among the directors they’ve spoken to are Baltazar Kormakur, who helmed Contraband, The Deep and the upcoming 2 Guns with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg (I don’t think Kormakur is available); Kick-Ass 2 helmer Jeff Wadlow; and The Karate Kid helmer Harold Zwart, whose next is The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones. Wan, who helmed the first installment of Saw, more recently directed the horror smash hit Insidious, and has The Conjuring upcoming.

The next film brings back longtime producer Neal H. Moritz of Original Film, and Chris Morgan is returning to write his fifth script for the franchise. He will also be exec producer. Also back for sure is Vin Diesel, who’s starring and producing, and Paul Walker, who’s also starring. Not sure at this point about Dwayne Johnson or Tyrese, but those pieces will fall into place. The main task was to find a director, and they’ve gotten one.

Wan has gotten the endorsement of Lin. “I’m extremely proud to be part of the Fast franchise, it is an experience I will always treasure,” Lin said. “It’s time for me to move on to other things and I’m thrilled that Universal and Neal have selected James Wan to lead the franchise into its new chapter.”

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

That "short list" was rumors and BS. Here it is:

JAMES WAN Is Universal’s Choice To Helm ‘The Fast And The Furious 7′

Really? The guy behind Saw and Insidious deserves this?!? I guess maybe Universal just considers asian directors interchangeable?

Well, he also did do Death Sentence which wasn't a horror movie. That or they're just looking for a cheap name they could market in the trailers and tv spots.

But I'm sure this is the same thing alot of people said about Lin after looking at what he done. So you never know really.

[Pounder]

I always had a feeling they wanted another Asian. Thought they were gonna in Chu's direction though. I liked Death Sentence so I think he's a serviceable choice.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by pgestradasp1

I always had a feeling they wanted another Asian. Thought they were gonna in Chu's direction though. I liked Death Sentence so I think he's a serviceable choice.

Plus like I said they could advertise it as from the director of Saw and Insidious. But I doubt they do that.

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by pgestradasp1

I always had a feeling they wanted another Asian. Thought they were gonna in Chu's direction though. I liked Death Sentence so I think he's a serviceable choice.

Death Sentence was decent, and yes, Lin hadn't done much to impress before he took the reins. I'm just worried because this is likely the final installment and the climax of it all, and even Lin was shaky in his first F&F - I thought Tokyo Drift was the weakest, but 4 & 5 were spectacular and 6 looks just as good or better.

[Walts Ghost]

Wan is a great director, not just in the horror genre. He's also doing the 'McGyver' film, because he's trying to break away from his horror roots. I love the choice, and I definitely support this.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

Wan is a great director, not just in the horror genre. He's also doing the 'McGyver' film, because he's trying to break away from his horror roots. I love the choice, and I definitely support this.

Really? He tried leaving his horror roots with Death Sentence and when that didn't work he went back to horror. But I like him and seems like a decent enough choice.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Michael Bay Fan

Really? He tried leaving his horror roots with Death Sentence and when that didn't work he went back to horror. But I like him and seems like a decent enough choice.

Actually, that isn't why he went back to horror...He went back because he wanted to tell 'Insidious'. He wasn't originally going to do more horror, but he didn't want 'Insidious' to turn into the 'Saw' franchise, so he decided to make a sequel on his terms. As for 'The Conjuring', he did it because he had been wanting to tell the story for a while, he said it at WonderCon. He didn't feel like he had anything left to say in the horror genre, but when the opportunity to tell this story presented itself, he jumped at it. But he'll slowly be working his way out now, and this is going to be part of that step. I love it, he's very talented. I can't wait to see what he does with the franchise.

[cinemaphile]

I'm still hoping that if the F&F franchise does end with 7, we get the rumored spinoff movie (or series) with Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs, hopefully with Carano along for the ride.