Actor and co-producer Vin Diesel expressed confidence that "Fast and Furious 8" is Oscar-worthy. He said director F. Gary Gray is so driven in the film the award-giving body would surely take notice.

Gray worked on the biographical film "Straight Outta Compton" last year, which he called his best work ever. While the film was critically and commercially acclaimed, Oscar did not take notice of the film. Talking to Entertainment Tonight, Diesel said, "I think he went into making this movie with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, going 'Oh, really? Ok. Now I'm going to take the biggest saga in the world, and I'm about to throw Oscars at you.'" He added, "Wait till you see what he does!"

Diesel also added that the eighth installment to the successful film franchise will be very different from its predecessors because it is very dark. He expounded, "My character is conflicted in a way that is really going to shock you. He's coming off a lot of emotion from 7 and the loss that 7 represents."

Fans of the franchise know that one of its lead actors, Paul Walker, died while the filming was in progress. The actors in "Fast and Furious" have prided themselves as being real family to each other and, in order to keep Paul's character alive, Brian O'Conner was not killed off in the seventh installment. Instead, Brian was depicted as choosing to concentrate on his growing family, which would explain his absence in "Fast 8."

Filming for the installment is already done and the first official full trailer will be released soon. On Dec. 11, Diesel said that every screen in Time Square will be playing the trailer as it premieres. He also guarantees that the short peek would hit viewers like a ton of bricks. He added, "everything is going to make sense."

"Fast and Furious 8," which is also known as "Fast 8," will be out on April 14, 2017.