Vin Diesel has shared his memories of the late Paul Walker as Fast and Furious turns 20.
Gatekeepers News reports that American actor and filmmaker, Vin Diesel has shared how the “Fast and Furious” franchise gave him memorable moments with late Paul who until his death was his co-actor on the movie.
Diesel explained that though they were quite opposite to one another, the franchise gave fans the unexpected perfect pairing in the original 2001 film.
He said, “The ’90s was characterized largely by an East Coast/West Coast beef: I was a quintessential New Yorker, he was a quintessential LA boy. It was already so unlikely that we would be not only brothers but bond the way that we did.”
In the first chapter of the series, now up to nine films (plus one spinoff), Walker was introduced as undercover cop Brian O’Conner and Diesel as famed street racer Dominic Toretto. O’Conner was tasked to infiltrate while investigating a series of vehicular hijackings.
The relationship formed between the two characters became the heart of “Fast” as the films added more personalities and shifted from plots around illegal street racing to epic stories of heists, spycraft, and saving the world, always with family at its core.
In 2013, Walker during one of his last interviews from the set of “Furious 7” said, “When I did the first one, it was a cool movie where I got to run around in race cars, shoot a gun and kiss a hot chick. That’s where I was at in my life then.”
Walker, however, died in a car accident at age 40 while on a production break.
The Director of “F9”, Justin Lin, (in theaters Friday), recollected he was an assistant teacher for a documentary class at the University of California, Los Angeles when he saw the first “Fast and Furious.”
Lin said, “I don’t think anybody ever felt like it was going to be more than one movie,” adding that Diesel/Walker dynamic “was able to permeate and connect with the audience. It’s why you go to movies. And when you see that, you never forget it. They all got together in that exact moment and made something that was so special.”
Diesel while sharing his fond memories of making the original movie with Walker, recollected the first scene, where Walker was doing test drives in Dodger Stadium, “and I remember us feeling like, this is going to be work? This is insane! We’re about to have more fun than we’ve ever had.”
Their initial meeting in the movie was at the Toretto bodega where Dom kept this stranger he’ll eventually grow to love like a brother from getting a beating. At this point was their bond cemented.
Diesel said, “I remember there being a table reading a week before we started filming,” adding that, “And from the very beginning, (Walker) did this strange thing, which was he made me feel like he only cared about what I thought.”
Although Diesel has filmmaking expertise that Walker respected, “Fast and Furious” was a pop-culture breakthrough for both of them.
Diesel remembered “Furious” table reading, “There were 50 people in the room: actors, directors, writers, executives, producers, assistant directors.”
“After every other line he would read out loud, he would stop, he’d look across the room and in front of everyone say, ‘Vin, what do you think?’ And I’m like, ‘You’re going to get me in trouble, bro,’ ” he adds with a laugh.
“Invariably, I would have to say, ‘They could give you a better line. That line’s a little goofy.’ And, boy, did he light up. It was just magic for him. It was just something like, ‘Yeah, that’s what he’s going to tell you all if you try to give me any goofy lines. If you don’t elevate my character, he’s going to fight for it.’ And it was the beginning of what our relationship became.”
