Update: A new Fast & Furious 10 director has been found, with Louis Leterrier set to take over from Justin Lin.
A new report states that Vin Diesel is reportedly being blamed for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and directing the three follow-ups to the 2006 pseudo spinoff. Lin most notably helped usher the Fast and Furious franchise into its globetrotting and espionage phase with the acclaimed Fast Five, which has been credited with helping revitalize the films' formula.
Lin returned to the fold for F9: The Fast Saga, in which he not only directed but also developed the story and co-wrote the script with Daniel Casey, replacing franchise vet Chris Morgan as the main writer for the series. Though the film received killed the series' positive review streak, it was a major box office hit, grossing over $726 million worldwide and securing a two-film greenlight from Universal Pictures to close out the mainline films with Lin expected to return to co-write and direct both installments. However, Fast & Furious 10, simply titled Fast X, saw a major speed bump as Lin exited just a week into production without explanation, though it now appears the real reason may have come to light.
On the heels of news that the filmmaker had parted ways with the project, the New York Daily News has brought word that Vin Diesel is reportedly being blamed for Lin's Fast & Furious 10 director exit. An unnamed source alleges that the franchise vet has become a problem on recent installments in the action series and expressed his shock that Lin is walking away from a lucrative paycheck. See what the unnamed source shared below:
"I’ve never seen anything like it. Lin’s giving up $10 or $20 million. Diesel shows up late to the set. He doesn’t know his lines. And he shows up out of shape."
Diesel's on-set behavior with the Fast and the Furious franchise has been a point of question for nearly six years since Dwayne Johnson first took to Instagram calling out some of his male stars as "candy a--es" and criticizing them for poor behavior, with many believing it to be Diesel he was pointing out. The years since have seen Johnson and Diesel speak out about their ongoing feud, going back and forth between being more diplomatic in discussing the other and being more critical of each other. This was seen most recently when Diesel took to social media to beg Johnson to come back for one of the final Fast & Furious movies, only for the latter to reject his pleas and cite it as an example of Diesel's "manipulation" as the franchise star/producer mentioned both his children and Paul Walker's death as reasons for Johnson to return.
Lin's exit from directing Fast 10 proved to be quite a shock given his long tenure with the franchise and the film's fast-paced development, having recently added Jason Momoa, The Suicide Squad's Daniela Melchior and Brie Larson to the star-studded roster and entering production on April 20. The ongoing delay in production has led to the budget for the film continuing to balloon as Universal is reportedly spending $1 million a day in their search for a new director for the film, with reports that the studio looked to previous helmers F. Gary Gary, David Leitch and James Wan, though their various scheduling commitments took them off the list. With Fast 10 currently set to hit theaters on May 19, 2023, only time will tell who the studio ultimately gets to replace Lin as director of the film.
Source: NY Daily News
