French film director and producer Louis Leterrier, best known for the first two Transporter films and The Incredible Hulk, is the favorite to direct the tenth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise titled Fast X. Variety is reporting that the Now You See Me director will be stepping in as the replacement to Justin Lin, who announced his departure from the upcoming film last week. According to reports, Leterrier has bagged the job and is at present Universal Pictures' top choice to direct Fast X, with schedules still being worked out.
Less than a week back, Justin Lin, who previously directed five Fast &Furious films in the franchise - The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), which he followed up with Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and the most recent installment F9 (2021) - announced that he will no longer be directing Fast X. He shared a statement informing, "With the support of Universal, I have made the difficult decision to step back as director of Fast X, while remaining with the project as a producer. Over 10 years and five films, we have been able to shoot the best actors, the best stunts, and the best damn car chases.On a personal note, as the child of Asian immigrants, I am proud of helping to build the most diverse franchise in movie history. I will forever be grateful to the amazing cast, crew and studio for their support, and for welcoming me into the FAST family."
Leterrier will be entering into the Fast & Furious franchise with massive experience behind him in the action genre after his stellar debut in The Transporter starring Jason Statham in 2002. He then worked with Chinese superstar Jet Li in Unleashed, which he followed up with a reunion with Statham for Transporter 2 in 2005. Leterrier made a transition to the big league with The Incredible Hulk in 2008, which had Edward Norton playing the Marvel superhero character. The filmmaker next made the action-fantasy film Clash of the Titans in 2010, which turned out to be a major box office success, followed by the heist thriller Now You See Me in 2013. Despite his 2016 film The Brothers Grimsby with Sacha Baron Cohen not being profitable, the French filmmaker made a transition to television with back-to-back hit shows on Netflix - 2019’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and 2021’s Lupin. Leterrier's upcoming French-language action film, The Takedown, is scheduled for a premiere on the streaming platform on May 6.
Announced to open in theatres worldwide on May 19, 2023, Fast X has Vin Diesel returning alongside Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, and Charlize Theron, with Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, Daniela Melchior, and Michael Rooker coming on board as new cast members.
