A week after Justin Lin abruptly left Fast X just as production started, a new director has been found. Fast X’s new stepdad is Louis Leterrier, director of The Incredible Hulk and magician heist flick Now You See Me. If you go back far enough, Leterrier is also the director of The Transporter, The Transporter 2, and Unleashed, all rad run-and-gun action flicks, so it’s not a totally left-field choice. Besides a background in action, Leterrier is something of a journeyman filmmaker for studios, so he knows how to come and get the job done without making waves.
Which is a big part of the job he’s inheriting. It’s not just about picking up the pieces of a huge production put suddenly on hold—though the second unit has continued shooting while the first unit, aka the main cast, is in limbo—it’s about coming in and not changing everything mid-go. Lin left behind a production for which most every decision is already made, there won’t be many creative decisions left to be made at this point. It’s just about executing what’s already in place, and Leterrier can do that. Also, there is no way his ego will in any way be challenging to a certain producer-star who is rumored to be very demanding on set and treating the Fast films like his own little fiefdom. I’m just going to say it—Paul Walker was CLEARLY the only person keeping Vin Diesel in check, and without him, the Fast movies have become the Vin Show, which I think we all kind of knew without knowing, but the recent dust up with Justin Lin made us know it. Let’s just hope the new stepdad works out better for the Fast family than the last one.
