The Italian Job Director For Furious 8?

Speculation continues about a possible director for Furious 8.  F. Gary Gray (“Straight Outta Compton,” “The Italian Job”) appears to have beaten out Adam Wingard (“The Guest”), Louis Leterrier (“Now You See Me”) and Will Eubank (“The Signal”) for the job of helming the eighth film in the “Fast and Furious” franchise.

Yesterday Variety showed us the four who had met with Universal about the gig. With Justin Lin committed to “Star Trek Beyond” and James Wan turning down a hefty bait to return to the franchise a few weeks ago, the hunt began for a new director.

Vin Diesel had suggested himself or Rob Cohen in social media postings about the issue, the studio reportely never took that idea into consideration. Gray seemed the best fit, but there was said to be concern over a potential conflict with Marvel’s “Black Panther” film for which he’s also a contender.

Maybe Gray’s best movie was “The Italian Job”, I must be one of the few who actually prefer it to the original.