The Fate of the Furious (Fast 8) (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, etc.
#76
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
Never heard of Wingard.
F. Gary Gray seems good I like both Italian Job and Law Abiding Citizen.
F. Gary Gray seems good I like both Italian Job and Law Abiding Citizen.
#77
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
Yes, but You're Next and The Guest show that Wingard would be a natural for the set pieces this franchise has to offer.
F. Gary Gray, who is now being reported by THR as directing the film, has pretty much been a director for hire over the past decade with the exception being Straight Outta Compton.
F. Gary Gray, who is now being reported by THR as directing the film, has pretty much been a director for hire over the past decade with the exception being Straight Outta Compton.
#78
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
James Wan wasn't a "safe" choice, but also apparently hated the experience and didn't really get to "flex".
#79
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
I'd bet that Universal has VERY strict regulations for any potential F&F directors and doesn't want anyone deviating from their very set parameters and messing with a franchise that has netted them more than a billion dollars.
#81
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
#82
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
if they can tweak it to scale back the ludacris stunt pieces (or at least not try to keep one-upping themselves), and mix in a little something like the tone/style of Heat, that would be fcking awesome. it'd still fit inline with the world they've established.
#83
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
Higher up being the producers, the execs at Universal were ready to start churning out F&F Straight-to-Video sequels after Tokyo Drift did less-than-stellar.
#84
Moderator
Thread Starter
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
That's my only gripe. They need to not keep trying to go over the top. I think they've reach the highest point of how over the top these movies can get. They know need to scale it back and become a slightly more grounded.
#85
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
Over the top stunt pieces are fine (cars parachuting out a plane, cars jumping between buildings, tank on a freeway, safe being dragged through the city-I'm good with all that "fun"). The ridiculous shit is intentionally driving off a cliff and expecting the audience to believe any human being could survive that(sure the "super"hero protagonist, but a civilian in tow?). Dom stomping his foot to collapse a parking garage (which a one story fall nearly killed Dom, but the 300ft cliff stunt? Not a scratch). Or how about playing chicken and ramming two cars together at 60mph and neither person is harmed?
It's a fine line, but one that needs to be addressed, IMO.
It's a fine line, but one that needs to be addressed, IMO.
#86
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
You can blame them, I'd have thought it was dead after TD: no original cast, storyline that seemed tangentially connected at very best to the rest of the franchise. It also wasn't very good, but that's a whole separate discussion. I would bet that the execs have taken a LOT more interest given that the combined earnings of 5, 6, & 7 are enough to buy Cuba and Mexico.
#87
DVD Talk God
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
#89
Moderator
Thread Starter
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
Yea... I really can't complain about that choice.
#90
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Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
‘Fast & Furious’ Spinoffs In the Works (EXCLUSIVE)
November 16, 2015 | 01:12PM PT
Brent Lang
Senior Film and Media Reporter @BrentALang
The “Fast and Furious” franchise may take a page from “Star Wars” and Marvel. Producer and star Vin Diesel tells Variety that the team behind the fast cars and criminals series is in the preliminary stages of developing prequels and spinoffs.
“We’ve written out story lines for various characters,” said Diesel. “We’ve been playing with it for a long time. It’s a very rich property and we’re committed to treating it with a lot of class.”
The actor did not say which characters would get their own standalone films, but in the past, Dwayne Johnson has hinted that he’d like to see his character, Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs, branch out into independent adventures.
If the actors are game for some universe building it sounds like the studio is willing to back the projects. Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley confirmed that talks were taking place about ways to broaden the series’ reach.
“We’re certainly in conversations about how we can expand the franchise now,” said Langley. “It’s an ensemble cast and there’s room to bring characters in and out.”
If Universal does go forward with launching spinoffs and prequels, it will be aping a strategy successfully employed by the “Avengers” movies and one being embraced by “Star Wars,” which is augmenting a new trilogy with origin stories focused on Han Solo and others.
For now, however, the focus remains on creating three more “Fast and Furious” sequels. Diesel and Universal brass promise that the upcoming films will be different in tone from the adventures that preceded them. That’s why the studio brought in F. Gary Gray, the director of “Straight Outta Compton” to guide the eighth film in the series.
“We have a director who is going to bring the darkness out and bring out the character,” said Diesel, who promises that the film will be similar to his previous collaboration with the director, the gritty 2003 thriller “A Man Apart.”
The “Fast and Furious” films are known for their gravity-defying car races, but the studio wants to shift the emphasis in the next installment.
“You can’t keep having every movie have bigger and bigger stunts forever and ever and ever,” said Jeff Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. “Eventually you have to really focus on the story. We’ll still have big stunts but bringing in this amazing storyteller is going to be great.”
For his part, Gray says the series will be a departure from the rap epic he just finished making. “I’m a fan of the cars and the world and after being on ‘Straight’ for four years, it was time to have some fun,”
Shell admits that nothing lasts forever, but he believes that after more than a decade of movies, the success of the most recent chapter, “Furious 7,” indicates that the series is still growing its audience. It was the first film in the series to top $1 billion and benefited from the growth of foreign markets like China, where it made over $390 million.
“It’s at its peak now,” said Shell. “By the way, internationally something people forget is yes, this is ‘Furious 7,’ but probably half the people around the globe that saw ‘Furious 7’ hadn’t seen any of the other ‘Fast and Furious’ films in the theater. It’s new in China to them, it’s new in Russia to them, it’s new in most of Latin America, so this is a series that’s accelerating in my view, not slowing down.”
The most recent “Fast and Furious” film had added resonance to longtime fans of the series. Star Paul Walker was killed in an off-set car accident while production was taking place. In the wake of his death, Universal considered cancelling the film, before ultimately deciding to complete the project by relying on body doubles and digital effects.
“We would never have done this without all of Paul’s family agreeing.,” said Ron Meyer, vice-chairman of NBCUniversal. “We would not have done it without everybody in the cast agreeing. We took great pains to make sure that before we said, ‘yes lets go forward with this film,’ we knew that we were doing the right thing. Not only because there was a big investment involved, but because a young man’s life had been lost and he had a daughter and friends and family.”
Diesel praises the Universal team for the restraint it showed in dealing with Walker’s death.
“They took such a high road and allowed us to honor our brother in such a powerful way,” said Diesel, who praises Meyer and Langley with allowing Walker’s character to ride off into the sunset instead of dying in the film. “Another studio couldn’t have helped themselves by exploiting that in the plot,” he said.
Meyer said that the script for “Furious 7” always depicted Walker’s character’s struggling to come to terms with the criminal life he led and voicing a desire to abandon heists to be with his family. Those themes allowed the filmmakers to send off Walker’s character in a more organic way, although Meyer acknowledges that future “Fast and Furious” movies will be quite different without the involvement of one of the key actors.
“Paul won’t be in it, but he’ll be represented in some form or another but whether his image is in it, I can’t tell you yet, but he won’t be in the film as a performer, as an actor, the way we did it last time,” said Meyer. “It will still be ‘Fast and Furious,’ it will just be without Paul.”
Diesel has said he believes there are three more “Fast and Furious” films left in him, but Universal brass hinted there might be some flexibility with that figure.
“Vin has a vision in his mind for three more, so let’s get three more done and then see where we are from there,” said Shell. “Everything has an end, so I don’t think our expectation is we’re going to have a hundred of them…To me ‘Fast and Furious’ has become no different than a beloved series that comes on every year. ”
November 16, 2015 | 01:12PM PT
Brent Lang
Senior Film and Media Reporter @BrentALang
The “Fast and Furious” franchise may take a page from “Star Wars” and Marvel. Producer and star Vin Diesel tells Variety that the team behind the fast cars and criminals series is in the preliminary stages of developing prequels and spinoffs.
“We’ve written out story lines for various characters,” said Diesel. “We’ve been playing with it for a long time. It’s a very rich property and we’re committed to treating it with a lot of class.”
The actor did not say which characters would get their own standalone films, but in the past, Dwayne Johnson has hinted that he’d like to see his character, Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs, branch out into independent adventures.
If the actors are game for some universe building it sounds like the studio is willing to back the projects. Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley confirmed that talks were taking place about ways to broaden the series’ reach.
“We’re certainly in conversations about how we can expand the franchise now,” said Langley. “It’s an ensemble cast and there’s room to bring characters in and out.”
If Universal does go forward with launching spinoffs and prequels, it will be aping a strategy successfully employed by the “Avengers” movies and one being embraced by “Star Wars,” which is augmenting a new trilogy with origin stories focused on Han Solo and others.
For now, however, the focus remains on creating three more “Fast and Furious” sequels. Diesel and Universal brass promise that the upcoming films will be different in tone from the adventures that preceded them. That’s why the studio brought in F. Gary Gray, the director of “Straight Outta Compton” to guide the eighth film in the series.
“We have a director who is going to bring the darkness out and bring out the character,” said Diesel, who promises that the film will be similar to his previous collaboration with the director, the gritty 2003 thriller “A Man Apart.”
The “Fast and Furious” films are known for their gravity-defying car races, but the studio wants to shift the emphasis in the next installment.
“You can’t keep having every movie have bigger and bigger stunts forever and ever and ever,” said Jeff Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. “Eventually you have to really focus on the story. We’ll still have big stunts but bringing in this amazing storyteller is going to be great.”
For his part, Gray says the series will be a departure from the rap epic he just finished making. “I’m a fan of the cars and the world and after being on ‘Straight’ for four years, it was time to have some fun,”
Shell admits that nothing lasts forever, but he believes that after more than a decade of movies, the success of the most recent chapter, “Furious 7,” indicates that the series is still growing its audience. It was the first film in the series to top $1 billion and benefited from the growth of foreign markets like China, where it made over $390 million.
“It’s at its peak now,” said Shell. “By the way, internationally something people forget is yes, this is ‘Furious 7,’ but probably half the people around the globe that saw ‘Furious 7’ hadn’t seen any of the other ‘Fast and Furious’ films in the theater. It’s new in China to them, it’s new in Russia to them, it’s new in most of Latin America, so this is a series that’s accelerating in my view, not slowing down.”
The most recent “Fast and Furious” film had added resonance to longtime fans of the series. Star Paul Walker was killed in an off-set car accident while production was taking place. In the wake of his death, Universal considered cancelling the film, before ultimately deciding to complete the project by relying on body doubles and digital effects.
“We would never have done this without all of Paul’s family agreeing.,” said Ron Meyer, vice-chairman of NBCUniversal. “We would not have done it without everybody in the cast agreeing. We took great pains to make sure that before we said, ‘yes lets go forward with this film,’ we knew that we were doing the right thing. Not only because there was a big investment involved, but because a young man’s life had been lost and he had a daughter and friends and family.”
Diesel praises the Universal team for the restraint it showed in dealing with Walker’s death.
“They took such a high road and allowed us to honor our brother in such a powerful way,” said Diesel, who praises Meyer and Langley with allowing Walker’s character to ride off into the sunset instead of dying in the film. “Another studio couldn’t have helped themselves by exploiting that in the plot,” he said.
Meyer said that the script for “Furious 7” always depicted Walker’s character’s struggling to come to terms with the criminal life he led and voicing a desire to abandon heists to be with his family. Those themes allowed the filmmakers to send off Walker’s character in a more organic way, although Meyer acknowledges that future “Fast and Furious” movies will be quite different without the involvement of one of the key actors.
“Paul won’t be in it, but he’ll be represented in some form or another but whether his image is in it, I can’t tell you yet, but he won’t be in the film as a performer, as an actor, the way we did it last time,” said Meyer. “It will still be ‘Fast and Furious,’ it will just be without Paul.”
Diesel has said he believes there are three more “Fast and Furious” films left in him, but Universal brass hinted there might be some flexibility with that figure.
“Vin has a vision in his mind for three more, so let’s get three more done and then see where we are from there,” said Shell. “Everything has an end, so I don’t think our expectation is we’re going to have a hundred of them…To me ‘Fast and Furious’ has become no different than a beloved series that comes on every year. ”
#92
DVD Talk God
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
“We’ve written out story lines for various characters,” said Diesel. “We’ve been playing with it for a long time. It’s a very rich property and we’re committed to treating it with a lot of class.”
#93
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
How about go back to the beginning when they were teens and street racers?
I've been waiting for that for a while now. I want to get back to some street racing.
I've been waiting for that for a while now. I want to get back to some street racing.
#94
DVD Talk God
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
I wouldn't mind seeing a prequel about Dom and Letty's past. Dom made some references to it in the last couple of movies about their past growing up in LA. If Dom and Letty were teens in say the late 80's, it could be a more traditional street racing movie once again without all the over the top stunts and special FX.
#96
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
Hmm... not sure what to make of it. Prequels for anyone other than Dom/Letty sounds odd. That's what 2Fast and Tokyo Drift are for. Han, Tej & Roman all have psuedo origins/backstories already. Even with Dom & Letty, even that sounds like a bad idea because no one wants to see another actor as a young Dom, and on the same token does anyone really want a 50+ year old Vin Disel playing a 20 year old?
I like that they are mentioning restraint about getting "bigger, bigGER, BIGGER."
I like that they are mentioning restraint about getting "bigger, bigGER, BIGGER."
#97
Moderator
Thread Starter
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
Hobbs is the only thing that make sense.
A prequel with Dom and Letty sounds like it would be straight DTV.
A prequel with Dom and Letty sounds like it would be straight DTV.
#98
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Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
That Dom and Letty prequel sounds horrible, Just...no.
I think the street racing was always pretty weak for me cuz it's not all that exciting really. It's not them doing crazy car stunts. At least in this more action centric realm we SEE them a lot more so the excitement of it comes forward better.
#99
#100
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Fast and Furious 8 (4/14/17, D: F. Gary Gray) - News, rumors, casting, etc.
No prequels, no spin-offs. This franchise isn't that rich in it's character development that we need to know how they met or became so furious.