Vin Diesel hinted he might direct Fast Forever, a 200 million dollar film — his last feature cost under 50,000

Alright, let's try to untangle the latest drama surrounding Fast Forever, the supposed grand finale of the Fast & Furious saga. If you've not been following, there's some fresh confusion about who'll actually be directing this one—because, shocking absolutely no one, Vin Diesel is back to his cryptic tricks online, and the internet can't resist biting.

Leterrier… or Diesel?

So, as it stands, Louis Leterrier (who did Fast X after that whole Justin Lin departure drama) is reportedly still the frontrunner to direct. Leterrier was asked just last month about that supposedly emotional script that made Diesel cry. Evasive as ever, Leterrier admitted he still hasn't even seen the script—which is a bit odd in itself. Here's how he dodged when pressed by Polygon:

There will be an ending, and it's great. I was very, very lucky to be part of the franchise, and I love Vin and I love Universal. They're great to work with. So yeah. We'll see, hopefully.

But then Diesel takes to Instagram—never a good sign, is it?—and posts a photo of Dominic Toretto's beloved car with the caption 'Director… Hmmm…' Subtle as a hand grenade, that. Naturally, fans are now convinced Diesel's hinting he could direct Fast Forever himself.

Vin Diesel: From Short Films to… $200 Million Action Spectacles?

To be fair, Diesel’s not completely clueless behind the camera. Friends of trivia will know he wrote and directed the short film Multi-Facial back in 1995 and followed that with his indie debut Strays two years later, which was cheap as chips (less than $50k to make, for what it’s worth). Even Spielberg took notice, which is how Diesel ended up in Saving Private Ryan.

He also did Los Bandoleros in 2009, a 20-minute short that functioned as a prequel to that year’s Fast & Furious. That’s where his directing CV ends—at least as far as anything feature-length and major studio-backed goes.

Strays set Diesel back under $50,000—quite a jump from the $200 million+ budget Fast Forever is reportedly aiming for.

Now, jumping from a micro-budget indie to something “4,000 times more expensive” borders on fantasy. Universal have a lot riding on this, and honestly, handing Vin the keys at this point would be like letting Toretto himself drive a school bus full of whiskey—can you really see that ending well?

Why It Actually Matters

The last film, Fast X, was a mess, both creatively and financially. The price ballooned to more than $370 million, and the action was so ridiculous it slipped further into cartoon territory (cars in space, anyone?). By now, Fast & Furious has drifted far from its street-level roots and into full parody. Bringing in yet another franchise veteran, even someone with as much sway as Diesel, is unlikely to steady things.

Honestly, what the series actually needs is a director with zero baggage who can stand up to Diesel, keep things grounded, and steer this oversized muscle car of a film back to what made the first few work.

• Louis Leterrier is the current (but possibly shaky) frontrunner for the director’s chair.
• Vin Diesel’s past directing is all on shorts and one bargain feature; nothing on this blockbuster scale.
• Fast Forever will reportedly cost more than $200 million to make.
• The last film, Fast X, went over $370 million, with storylines increasingly untethered from reality.

If Universal genuinely lets Diesel direct, expect chaos—or at best, another overcooked, petrol-soaked spectacle. For now, all we have is another cryptic Instagram tease and a lot of nervous energy from fans about how this whole circus will end.