"Fast & Furious 8" is still currently slated for an April 2017 release. However, director James Wan, who handled the previous entry in the franchise, has declined to return to the director's chair, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, it appears that the film continues to struggle with finding a director to take Wan's place.
The report states that the studios permitted Wan to move on and handle the sequel to "The Conjuring" despite having a contract that would bind him to "Fast & Furious 8." The studios then asked Justin Lin, who directed four of the "Fast & Furious" films before Wan, but he decided to refuse in order to direct "Star Trek Beyond."
It was then that the studios reportedly went back to Wan and asked him if he could squeeze in "Fast & Furious 8." Wan replied that he would not due to the complications he encountered while directing the previous entry. "Furious 7" was plagued with numerous re-shoots, delays, and they reportedly took a toll on the director's health.
According to the report, one of the main reasons for the difficulty in finding a new director was the problems Wan allegedly experienced with actor Vin Diesel. Diesel is the face of the franchise along with the late Paul Walker and is also one of the head producers for the films. The actor reportedly delayed production as he obsessed over small details about action sequences and his character's story or dialogue.
Both Diesel's and Wan's representatives denied the allegations and producer Neal Moritz is quoted in the report as saying, "Obviously, if there was any issue, we wouldn't be making the eighth film with Diesel right now."
Following Moritz' statement, a representative from Universal Pictures stated that Wan is not in the line-up of choices for "Fast & Furious 8" due to his commitment to "The Conjuring 2" and that the studios are still actively searching for a new director.
