Furious 7 and The Chronicles of Riddick star Vin Diesel has a long history of using social media to communicate directly with his fans, and after recently confirming (via Facebook) his plans for a final trilogy of Fast & Furious films to close out that franchise, he posted another update on the series that outlines his thoughts on choosing a director for the next film.
Along with indicating that he — and the studio, of course — are waiting on a script for the sequel to Furious 7, Diesel also mentioned that he’s like to see one particular, familiar face behind the camera for at least one of the final three films.
According to Diesel, the director of the original, franchise-starting 2001 film The Fast and the Furious, Rob Cohen, is high on the list of filmmakers he’d like to see bring an end to that franchise.
“Back to the matter of 8 … First and most importantly is the SCRIPT, which has to be great,” wrote Diesel on his Facebook page. “Hopefully the writer will deliver something within the next two weeks … before my Witch Hunter press tour begins. There has always been the desire by Paul to have Rob direct one more, this is what fueled my campaign … I believe that he can and would reset the franchise nicely, returning to what was the core of the film in the beginning … racing. He would also handle the Brian O’Connor issue with integrity, given that he and David Ayer were the ones who initially created that beloved character in the first place.”
After working with Diesel in The Fast and the Furious, Cohen later collaborated with him again on 2002’s extreme-sports spy movie xXx, and most recently directed the thriller The Boy Next Door, which hit theaters earlier this year and starred Jennifer Lopez
“Ultimately we all want the best film to honor what we have created and what you the audience has adopted as your favorite franchise,” Diesel wrote in another Facebook post, which also mentions the upcoming release of his new movie The Last Witch Hunter and an upcoming sequel to xXx titled xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. “I will leave this matter in the studios hands for a moment while I release The Last Witch Hunter and start production of the long awaited Xander Returns. Again, we make these films with our hearts.”
This year’s Furious 7 continued the franchise’s dominance at the box office, earning $1.511 billion worldwide. The still-untitled follow-up film is scheduled to hit theaters April 14, 2017.
