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Posted in: Movies, Universal | Tagged: FAST X, movies, universal
Fast X: Louis Leterrier Set To Replace Justin Lin As Director
Last week, the franchise that has been more or less keeping the lights on at Universal Pictures hit a significant roadblock. Justin Lin stepped away from the director's chair of Fast X just mere days into production and set everything into chaos. While all parties said that the parting was about as amicable as a parting days into production could be, it really put Universal into a tight spot. They moved on to second unit production as they searched for a replacement, and the reports that they were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every day that the production went without a director. Today, it was announced via Variety that they would be bringing in Louis Leterrier to replace Lin for Fast X.
This is a choice if there ever was one, and it's going to be interesting to see how it pans out for the studio. While sources are saying that Leterrier beat out a long line of people, there is no other way for this to be seen as anything other than a panic replacement because that's what it is. Unless they shut down production entirely, this would always be a panic replacement. The report goes out of its way to say that this team will be set up for Fast X and not for the final movie in the series, which is set to be a two-parter. If Universal tries to bill this as a two-parter with different directors, it's going to be a different director in each one.
Then there is the reason why Lin ended up leaving Fast X. This one comes from The New York Daily News, so take that as you will, but they are reporting that Vin Diesel is why Lin left the set so suddenly.
"Diesel shows up late to the set. He doesn't know his lines. And he shows up out of shape. … No one is dissing Vin Diesel on the record, but everyone knows."
The story also says that Lin could be losing anywhere from $10-$20 million from walking away from the production the way he did. We'll have to see if any more news about Fast X comes out and whether or not this tension behind the scenes ends up sinking the final entries into this extremely profitable franchise. At the moment, Fast X still has a release date of May 19, 2023.
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