News is moving fast on the Fast & Furious spin-off set to star Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Following the news yesterday that Fast & Furious 9‘s release date has been pushed back a year, the spin-off has now taken its place on the calendar for an April 2019 release date.
Then, actor Tyrese Gibson took some pot shots at Johnson for the delay of the ninth film in the franchise, and now, with the spin-off moving forward, a major director is reportedly in contention to direct the film: Shane Black (The Nice Guys, Iron Man 3).
This is very early days, as Black is simply being considered by Universal and it’s not clear if he’d even want the job. However, the Fast & Furious franchise would suit his witty, action-comedy scripts, as the films are not dissimilar to the late 80s/early 90s films he made his name with, such as Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout.
What we do know about the spin-off is that Johnson and Statham will reprise their roles as Hobbs and Shaw, respectively, to team up for an undisclosed mission that may or may not involve Charlize Theron‘s Fate Of The Furious villain, Cypher. That isn’t a sneaky tease, it’s genuinely unclear whether the film involves Theron’s character, though it has been rumoured.
What could trip up Universal’s courting of Black is the fact that he’s currently developing his passion project, Doc Savage. However, in a convenient twist, that film is also set to star Johnson as the Indiana Jones-esque hero who came to prominence in 30s and 40s pulp magazines.
While Johnson’s incredibly busy schedule has hindered development of the film thus far, perhaps he can stick around on Doc Savage, while convincing Black to direct the Hobbs and Shaw spin-off, thereby making everybody very happy, and also probably a lot of money as well.
Black is currently finishing post-production on The Predator, which is set to hit cinemas next year. Johnson is currently involved in an array of projects, which would probably take a whole separate article to list completely. It’s possible we’ll see them team up multiple times over the next few years. Stay tuned.
#Peace.Love.ShaneBlack
