Vin Diesel has christened the final tearjerking shots of Furious 7 as the “best moment in cinematic history.” The 7th instalment in the Fast and Furious franchise came out in 2015 following the tragic death of Paul Walker, who had been with the franchise for 12 years. In order to wrap up Brian O’Conner’s arc, Walker’s brothers stood in for the late actor in the bittersweet parting-of-roads shot. The film went on the gross a massive $1.52 billion (USD) globally.
Walker’s Fast and Furious co-star, Vin Diesel, recently spoke to NME with regards to the actor’s passing, and how it affected him when they had to go back to shoot more scenes for Furious 7.
I was so reluctant to go back to filming. I just felt like the studio was asking me to go back to a funeral. I was so broken by it. I didn’t want anyone to use the tragedy as a story plot. It was a very tough moment”, said Diesel. “But there was some solace in the fact that we were able to protect from the natural whim of a producer or anyone to say, ‘Well now you’re going to go avenge the character,’ and use it as a plot and we were able to do something so beautiful and so classy.
Vin Diesel then went on to speak highly of Brian O’Conner’s final moments in Furious 7.
It might be the best moment in cinematic history. Not just my career but in cinematic history. Men around the world, well everyone in the world, but men around the planet for the first time in history were able to cry together.
The forked road was the perfect footnote to the character’s arc. Complemented by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa’s soul-hitting ballad, the scene made it known that while the paths may diverge and conclude for some, there will come a time when they would see each other again. For Paul.
A slower rendition of the song made its way into the F9 trailer, the familiar keys playing over the heartwarming scenes at its start. F9‘s director, Justin Lin, spoke to Entertainment Weekly, explaining why the song made a comeback. Here’s what he said:
It was important because as the Fast family we take a lot of pride in the journey. In front of the camera you’re seeing our characters age, and behind the camera, we’re all growing together, we started families, all of our kids are growing up together. And so I really thought it was important to acknowledge that with Dom, Letty, and little Brian, and to be able to acknowledge that in a big action franchise, I thought it was important to connect that to other pieces of the family.
The heart of the Fast franchise is about relationships and the “f-word”, certainly. It’s great that they are doing their best to show that these characters have grown because frankly, they’ve been through A LOT. Tanks. Parachuting out of a plane. Racing on ice. Carzan-ing across a crevice (huhuhu). As cray-cray as the stunts might be, the gel of the team is what makes it all so endearing.
It’ll be a looong day year, without our Fast friends, but they’ll tell us all about it when we see Fast 9 in theatres on the 9th of April… 2021!!
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