F. Gary Gray entered a new level of his career when he took the reigns of one of the biggest, most lucrative movie franchises in the world. But while The Fate of the Furious might end up being his most profitable film to date, his resume is filled with classics from Black cinema.

We asked the director which of his three seminal films — Friday, Set It Off or Straight Outta Compton — means the most to him. Check out his answer below:

"I'm going to give you a cliché answer, they're all important for different reasons. Friday was my first one, obviously. But you never see ... Black women starring in roles like [in Set It Off], where there is major action and stuff like that. That was really important, and somewhat of a fresh new look."

As for the most recent of the three films, Gray said,  "Compton is history. It's very close to me because I grew up in LA at the time, I listened to music, it impacted me directly, and I think that because I was able to be a journalist, somewhat, and a historian, Compton is really, really special and important for me."
Gray also talks about the pressure of taking on the Fast & Furious franchise, above. The Fate of the Furious is in theaters now.