Justin Lin is standing down as director of Fast X, only days after the shooting of the impending movie in the Fast & Furious franchise began.
Lin co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Mazeau and will continue as a producer on the picture. While both sides parted away amicably, sources claim Lin finally opted to leave the brand owing to creative disagreements.
The filming tenth installment has just been underway, and although the film will continue shooting some second unit footage, sources believe production will be put on hold while executives and producers search for Lin’s successor. Some candidates are already in talks, and a decision on his successor should be made shortly, according to sources.
The picture has been scheduled for release on May 19, 2023, and sources say they do not anticipate pushing back the date at this time.
Lin, entering the series in its third installment, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, was instrumental in transforming the Fast & Furious franchise from a basic street-racing action film to a worldwide action event franchise. He would later oversee the fourth (Fast & Furious), fifth (Fast Five), and sixth sequels (Fast & Furious 6). Lin opted to take a break on the following two but returned for F9, which became one of the most successful films in the post-pandemic period, racking in more than $720 million worldwide. The franchise’s films have generated over $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office.
