Photo by Jaimie Trueblood – © 2011 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Indiewire reported that Justin Lin, the regular director of “Fast X“, abruptly departed just a week into production, due to a new and unauthorized book titled ‘Welcome to the Family’.

Lin’s abrupt departure from the project just a few days into filming was a surprise to everyone because he had directed five of the previous nine instalments and was recognized as one of the main architects of the franchise’s success.

The press release referred to the exit as ‘amicable’ due to ‘creative differences’, but Universal Pictures had to find a replacement, with Louis Leterrier being the eventual choice.

The book, based on multiple high-level sources in the production, states that Lin’s final straw was a disagreement over the film’s ending, which led him to walk away.

Lin had reached his breaking point because of the growing creative tensions with [Vin] Diesel, as well as problems with Samantha Vincent, the star’s sister/producer, who often represented Diesel.

The script and its conclusion were a significant cause of discord. The “Fast X” plan included not only a cliffhanger, but also a jaw-dropping twist that revealed Dante (Jason Momoa) to be the true father of Little Brian in multiple drafts of the screenplay. Diesel was not pleased with the last-minute twist, Lin’s final action set-piece for the film was also a source of disagreement, but that’s not the only thing.

“Some members of the film’s team felt that the late-game turn was the perfect, if deeply dark, way for Dom to reckon with the concept he held most dear: family. The proud patriarch of the Fast clan would have to put his life on the line for a child who wasn’t biologically his own – who was in fact the offspring of his most feared nemesis. Others, including Diesel, felt differently. Universal was said to be extremely hands-on during the entire process, and reportedly also not keen on Lin’s vision for the final action set-piece, an especially over-the-top sequence that involved Dante using a giant excavator-like machine to wreak havoc…After a heated closed-door meeting on Saturday, April 23, Lin reached his limit, threw up his hands, and quit.”

According to second-unit director and cinematographer Alexander Witt, the final action sequence resembled that of a “Transformers” movie, where the villain goes down, enters a machine, emerges, and starts eating cars. According to him, it seemed ‘totally out of place’ with the movie and relied too heavily on CG. However, he acknowledged that the actual ending, with the dam race and explosion, was also entirely CG.