It seems The Italian Job and Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray s the man of the moment, as THR reports that he’s entered exclusive negotiations to helm Fast & Furious 8, while Variety adds that he’s also in the running to direct Marvel’s Black Panther.
Universal have been busy looking for a Furious 8 director ever since James Wan decided he didn’t want to helm. With an April 2017 release set they didn’t have much time, and hot on the heels of reports that they’d narrowed it down to a few name came reports of negotiations officially beginning with Gray.
Vin Diesel also confirmed it, posting a picture of him meeting Gray – an important part of the process, as Vin has to approve the director for him to get the job.
While the Black Panther news is less certain, it appear Gray is high up the list of potential directors. Selmas Ava DuVernay was previously attached to that one, but she has since left. However Gray may have difficulty making both, as with Black Panther set for summer 2018, he’d have to jump from one film to the other pretty quickly.