“I don’t have friends. I got family.”
A newcomer to the Fast & Furious series may be surprised that the words “cars” or “driving” don’t crop up nearly as much as the word “family”. The core cast, and in particular Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, played brothers-in-law onscreen, and in the wake of Walker’s tragic death late in 2013, it has become clear that art imitated life in the closeness of their bond. With Fast & Furious 7 approaching release, completed after Walker’s fatal accident, it stands as a potentially billion-dollar memorial to one of its stars.
“This was a labour of love,” said Diesel at a recent early screening of Fast & Furious 7 in Los Angeles. “It was in some ways the hardest film I ever had to do because the relationships that you see onscreen are so real. When the tragedy happened, I lost my best friend, I lost my brother.”
Paul Walker was a star but, it's fair to say, probably not a household name when he died. But his death was a shock to fans and the film industry alike. The news broke in the UK over the weekend to something like disbelief; I learned of it on social media and refused to credit it until multiple confirmations appeared.