Fans looking forward to Fast X, the latest installment of the long-running and immensely popular Fast and the Furious franchise, were understandably shocked when it was announced that Justin Lin, the man who’d directed five of the ten entries to date, was stepping down as director of the latest entry into the Toretto “fambly” saga.
It was the latest in a series of high-profile shakeups that saw Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson also choosing not to return despite his four entries and spin-off entry to the main franchise. In what is quickly becoming a known secret in Hollywood, it might be due to the difficulty of the franchise’s main lead, Vin Diesel.
According to the New York Daily News, an unnamed source stated that the break up between Lin and the Fast franchise happened because Diesel is so notoriously difficult to work with. It must have been quite a blowup since Lin had already been underway filming for a week before abruptly quitting and shocking fans around the world.
Louis Leterrier has taken Lin’s place in the director’s chair but until he grabbed it, Variety said that the waiting game was costing Universal between $600k and $1 million a day as it kept cast and crew in a holding pattern. Said one producer, “I’ve never seen anything like it. Lin’s giving up $10 or $20 million.” That’s quite the payday to give up, which lends credence to the long-standing rumors about Diesel’s behavior. Said the source, Vin is known for showing up late, without knowing his lines, and out of shape, which doesn’t work considering that knowing a key part of any Fast character is looking good and spouting absurd dialogue in service to wild stories.
At the time that Dwayne Johnson quit after a notorious feud with Diesel, he said, “Some conduct themselves as stand-up men and true professionals, while others don’t,” being pointedly vague about “the problem” that nobody will talk about—probably because said problem is the heart of a 10-film franchise that has sold tickets by the boatload. Johnson went on, “The ones that don’t are too chickens*** to do anything about it anyway. Candyasses.” Johnson went on to do the Hobbs and Shaw Spinoff with Statham, but even cut off that branch of the series.
At the time of the article, New York Daily News had reached out to both Diesel and Lin and neither returned a comment. Said the unnamed source, “No one is dissing Vin Diesel on the record, but everyone knows.” As the increasing friction between long-running cast members and creators behind the mega-franchise show, that seems to be the case.
Source: NY Daily News