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As soon as the news broke that director Justin Lin had surprisingly opted out directing Fast X when production was already underway, the fingers of blame and suspicion were instantly pointed at star and producer Vin Diesel.
It was an obvious set of dots to connect, given that the tank top enthusiast is the main reason why Dwayne Johnson steadfastly refuses to reprise his role as Luke Hobbs in The Fast Saga, even though he remains keen to continue developing a sequel to his spinoff, although it should be noted that Diesel not-so-coincidentally had no involvement whatsoever in Hobbs & Shaw.
When you add that to the various reports to have made the rounds over the years describing the longtime Dominic Toretto as either difficult to work with, or a little too keen to exert as much influence and control over the direction of the franchise as possible, it’s hard not to jump to such a conclusion.
While neither Lin nor Universal have given an official reason for his departure as of yet, the NY Daily News is nonetheless claiming that Diesel is indeed the reason Fast X is on the hunt for a new director 12 months out from release, with a Fast & Furious producer offering their anonymous insight.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. Lin’s giving up $10 or $20 million. Diesel shows up late to the set. He doesn’t know his lines. And he shows up out of shape.”
Fans have already been cracking jokes about how the recent behind the scenes video of Lin and Diesel came across as more of a hostage situation than a pair of friendly creative collaborators, but we’ll still have to wait for the real truth to emerge.