As the world gets ready for FAST & FURIOUS’s 11th and final movie, FAST FOREVER, its lead star Vin Diesel is reflecting on former co-star Paul Walker.
Walker died in 2013 during a break from the production of FURIOUS 7. He was 40 years old.
“When the character you create consumes you, what happens when you say, ‘I will always be Brian,’” Diesel recalled of Walker’s approach to his FAST character. “If you come up to me and you say, ‘Hey Paul,’ I’m less apt; I know that you’re not really coming after me because of a character that I’ve invested so much of my heart into, so much of my soul into. So when he says, ‘I will always be Brian,’ it’s haunting for us, because he is always Brian.”
Walker’s on-screen wife, Jordana Brewster, remembered Walker as a private and focused person.
However, “He would say, ‘If anyone comes up to me and they call me Brian, I open my arms and talk to them or sign whatever they want me to sign.’”
Diesel said that after playing Brian for six movies, Brian was part of Walker.
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On the 11th year anniversary of his death in 2024, Brewster shared that she’d woken up that day edgy and annoyed.
“Then I remembered,” she said. “My stomach dropped. Someone isn’t here who should be. The one that lifted up everyone around him. The one who worked his a** off but didn’t let it show. The one with grace and humor. #11years Miss you forever @paulwalker.”
Diesel said Walker had a lot of faith in the FAST franchise.
“He had this ability to see,” Diesel previously told EW. “Every time we’d come out of a premiere, it would just be me and him, everybody would always give us our moment, and he’d always say, ‘Vin, the best one’s still in the can.’ I’d be like, ‘You didn’t hear them, Paul?! They’re going crazy! What do you mean the best one’s still in the can?!’”
Diesel’s daughter, Pauline, was born two years after Walker died. Diesel named her after him. On Walker’s death anniversary last year, Diesel said he feels Paul’s presence when he calls his daughter’s name. He recalled Walker’s “irritating” smile.
“I’d give anything to be irritated by you one more time,” he said.
FAST FOREVER will start filming in December.
Diesel said earlier this month, “I had to go through four sets of writers, four years of development, to get to something that I felt would be worthy of a finale. And when I read the script a couple of weeks ago, [I cried].”
The movie is scheduled to release on March 17, 2028.
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