Vin Diesel Suggests 'Fast & Furious 7' Shoots This Summer In LA

Universal has turned the Fast & Furious franchise into a juggernaut that fans love — I'd wager that I see more anticipation expressed for Fast & Furious 6 on a daily basis than I do for any other summer tentpole slated for release this year. By crafting a series of tightly interconnected stories, the studio (and screenwriter Chris Morgan and director Justin Lin) have pinpointed exactly what audiences want: big action with entertaining actors, and a story throughline to match long-form television.

Seems so simple, but only Marvel is building the same sort of structure, and capturing fans the same way.

Fast & Furious 6 arrives on May 24, and in a note about an early screening of the film Vin Diesel says that the reaction to 6 is good enough that shooting on Fast & Furious 7 is already set for this summer.

We don't have precise plot or cast details for Fast 7 at this point, but there are some pretty spoilery ideas here, which were seemingly confirmed by THR earlier this week. (Don't read either of those links if you don't want to know some of the ending of Fast 6.)

We know that Fast 7 will definitely happen, and now it seems like it'll shoot soon. On his Facebook page, Diesel said,

There was an early screening in LA this week of Fast 6. The crowd reaction was surreal... and their demand for the continuation was powerful... It's remarkable to think I first embodied this character in 1999... and the evolution continues. P.s. Filming begins this summer in LA, where it all started... talk about a studio in sync with the audience...

We don't know who is directing Fast 7, but if Diesel is correct and filming starts in just a couple months, that's a quick production schedule that suggests there's no change of the guard in that department. So don't be surprised to hear that Justin Lin is directing from a Chris Morgan script once again. (Back in 2011 it was reported that Morgan was writing the sixth and seventh movies back to back, with one story running through both movies. That report is in tune with the spoiler reports of the Fast 6 ending linked above.)

There's also the question of that Luke Hobbs spin-off that Dwayne Johnson recently said might come between Fast 6 and Fast 7. If Fast 7 is really going to shoot this summer, that doesn't seem possible — unless both films are put into production simultaneously.  (There's also the small chance that Diesel is referring to that Hobbs movie, and announcing his participation in it at the same time.)