Fast & Furious 8 Reportedly Struggling To Find A Director

This time it ain’t just about being fast.

The seventh installment in the franchise earned $1.5 billion, so you can understand why Fast 8 is a top priority for Universal. Chris Morgan is hammering away at the script, but the studio is having a hard time finding a director.

Furious 7 director James Wan chose to make a sequel to The Conjuring, despite Universal offering him “life altering” money to return to the car-racing series. But the Wan had suffered, mentally and physically, during the long and grueling production on Furious 7 after Paul Walker lost his life in a car accident.

In addition, franchise star and producer Vin Diesel was apparently hard to work with, according to sources for The Hollywood Reporter. They report: “As a producer, he is said to have questioned even small details on elaborate action sequences, often holding up the complex production. He also was known to summon filmmakers to repeated late-night script sessions to make him comfortable with his character and dialogue.”

After Wan passed Universal tried to lure Justin Lin, who directed four Fast & Furious films, but he decided to helm the next Star Trek film for Paramount. As of right now, Universal is putting “out feelers to agents for experienced action directors and relative newcomers.”

THR claims: “Some at Universal fear that Diesel will, at some point, want to direct one of the films himself.” While another source told them that Diesel is reluctant to direct a high-profile project like that for his feature film directorial debut.

Fast 8 is scheduled to be released in movie theaters on April 14, 2017.