Fast and Furious 8 Won’t Just Be More Of The Same- Director F. Gary Gray

F. Gary Gray director of Furious 8 has allayed fears that the sequel will simply serve up more of the same as he promise that tFurious 8 will retain many of  core elements, seen in the previous franchise.

Once Furious 7 helmer James Wan journeyed back to his horror roots for The Conjuring 2, the Straight Outta Compton helmer agreed to get behind the wheel of Universal’s crown jewel, and here Gray reflects on the initial process with Vin Diesel. “The meeting was great. I went to Vin’s home and it was a reunion, cause I had already directed a movie with him earlier in my career, 15 years ago or so. We were both really excited to get back together and do it again. We talked about all of the Fast movies up to this point, and where could we go. I think he was really happy with the vision I have for the franchise and I was really happy about where he sees not only his character going but the franchise itself, because he’s a producer as well. So it was all love. Definitely all love.” Gary said.

Gray was moved by the way J.J. Abrams tackled Star Wars: The Force Awakens, introducing a style and spectacle to a film series that was already so ingrained in popular culture saying “It’s a combination of both. When you look at someone like J.J. Abrams who gives you the spectacle and great action set pieces but also gives you character and plotting and narrative, I think it’s my job and my intention is to do both. You amp up everything, you work on the performances, you work on the story, you work on the action; it’s just not one thing. Hopefully I bring more to it, that’s part of the point is to bring something different to the franchise while still satisfying what the fans want. All I have to say is I’m extremely excited about the direction we’re going in, and we’re really pushing to make sure the audience feels like it’s not more of the same”

Furious 8  drifts into theaters on April 14, 2017.