by: S. Scott Stanikmas

With F. Gary Gray taking the reins of the Fast And Furious franchise, Vin diesel can now turn his attention to the important things in life – like who will be directing XXX 3.

In a conversation with IO9, Diesel recently let loose with the news that Disturbia and Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso will be helming the third installment of the XXX franchise.

He had the following to say about the hiring of Caruso:

I’m excited as hell about xXx. D.J. Caruso is directing it, which is exciting. The big question now is which will race to production first now that F. Gary Gray is on [Furious 8]?

That is a laughable statement. I have no doubt we’ll see another Fast And Furious movie before we see Xander Cage back on the big screen. With Universal fast tracking Furious 8 into production for an April 14, 2017 release and XXX 3 currently without a release date (or billions of dollars in revenue behind it) it’s a good bet that we’ll see Domenic Toretto back in theaters first.

But Vin is really looking forward to getting back to having fun and feels like the next XXX is exactly what he needs to accomplish this:

XXX is one of those films you do when you need to have a little fun. When the weight and pressures of all the other things have gone so far that you need to have a character that you can just have fun and more comment on life and comment on the outcome than being in it like Dom Torretto. Dom is very much the center of the storm, Xander is more the guide to something else and you’re just with him.

While both franchises need a healthy dose of “suspension-of-disbelief” to be enjoyed I get what Diesel means. The XXX films don’t have all the backstory and family connections that the Fast franchise has, so he gets to play a little faster and looser with the Xander Cage character.

Whatever the case may be it’s nice to see Caruso back from limbo. After a couple of critical bombs (Eagle Eye, I Am Number Four) this might be what the director needs to boost his confidence and get back in the spotlight. It’s hard to believe that we’re in a place where the talented filmmaker who made The Salton Sea is directing a tired sequel that absolutely nobody is clammoring for.