'Very much alive': 'Fast X' director speaks about including Paul Walker into the upcoming film
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: You can either love or hate the Vin Diesel starrer 'Fast and Furious' franchise but you surely cannot ignore it. Whenever you think of the 'Fast' franchise, Paul Walker pops in your head out of nowhere, and it is fair to think about him as he has been such an iconic and important part of the films.
In 2013, Walker died of injuries sustained from a single-vehicle collision while a passenger in a speeding car. His father and daughter filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche, which resulted in settlements. At the time of his death, Walker had not completed filming 'Furious 7,' it was released after rewrites and stand-ins, including his brothers Cody and Caleb, both of whom filled in for Walker, while the song 'See You Again' by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth was commissioned as a tribute to late Walker.
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Despite Walker's untimely passing prior to the release of 'Furious 7,' Brian has remained in the saga, living a happy retirement, thanks to the wonders of CGI and the late actor's two brothers acting as body doubles during filming. Now that the franchise is racing towards the finish line, Louis Letterier sat down with TotalFilm and addressed his thoughts on bringing Brian back in the upcoming sequel.
He said, "Well, Brian is very much alive in the world of Fast & Furious, and they’ve teased him a lot in the previous movies. In 9, we see the car coming. It’s something that is planned. This movie jumps back and forth between the past and the present. You will see Brian in the past, you won’t see Brian in the present. It’s something that everybody has to be on board with. The Walker family is still very much a part of this franchise, you’ll see how in this movie. It just has to be the right moment, the right tone."
Since the franchise's inception in 2001, it has been a huge success, bringing in $6.6 billion in revenue. 'Furious 7,' the seventh installment, came in at number ten on the list of all-time top-grossing movies.
Apart from Diesel reprising his role as Dominic Toretto, other original cast members will also return, including Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz), Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto), Tyrese Gibson (Roman Pearce), Ludacris (Tej Parker), Sung Kang (Han Seoul-Oh), Nathalie Emmanuel (Ramsey), Charlize Theron (Cipher), Scott Eastwood (Little Nobody), Michael Rooker (Buddy), and John Cena (Jakob Toretto).
'Fast X' is racing into cinemas on May 19.