Vin Diesel Denies That Directors Have Turned Down Furious 8

Last week it was reported that the producers of the Fast and Furious franchise were having trouble finding a director for the eighth part of the long-running action series. Now producer/star Vin Diesel has issued a statement on Facebook, denying that this is the case, and stating that a new director would be announced soon.

The full post reads:

The fans of the Fast & Furious SAGA are the best fans in the world... Since I became the Producer in 2008, you have been with me every step of the way... literally giving me feedback that proved invaluable. Thank you.

My producing partner Neal would love for me to just sign off on a director, but this is too special a franchise, so these matters have to be very carefully handled. To be clear, NO ONE has been offered to helm Fast 8 yet... let alone seen a script.

Universal has been so good to me and so trusting of the vision... they have been like family... I promised the studio I would deliver one last Trilogy to end the saga.

I will announce the directors on my next post...

The initial story was broken by the Hollywood Reporter, who stated that previous directors James Wan and Justin Lin had both turned down offers to helm Furious 8, which is scheduled for a April 2017 release.

In addition, the article quoted sources who described Diesel as "extraordinarily difficult" to work with during the troubled production of Furious 7. Star Paul Walker was killed in a car crash halfway through shooting, with the movie completed using body doubles and visual effects.

Despite the problems, Furious 7 went on to become the biggest film in the series to date, earning more than $1.5 billion worldwide.