At the Fate of the Furious (The Fast and the Furious 8) premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Hollywood actor Vin Diesel paid tribute to his friend and co-star Paul Walker. The 49-year-old actor was pretty close to Walker, who died in a car accident in 2013. The two had shared a screen in The Fast and the Furious films, with Walker’s untimely death taking place during the shooting of Furious 7.
During the premiere, Diesel expressed his feelings about having to shoot the film without Walker. Walker has been featured in every movie of the film franchise with the exception of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Vin Diesel (right) and Charlize Theron (left) in a still from The Fate of the Furious.
Diesel stated, “There wasn’t a day, there wasn’t a scene, there wasn’t a second where I didn’t have Paul with me in the making of this movie. It’s not making the movie without Paul, it’s, ‘What’s life like? What’s living like without Paul?’ ”
Diesel also spoke about having to speak to Walker’s grieving mother following the accident. “The day after the tragedy, for me to fly from Atlanta that night and to show up at his mother’s house and for me to say to his mother, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ and for his mother to say to me ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ — I said, ‘Why? Why are you saying sorry to me?’ And she said, ‘Because you lost your other half,’ ” he said.
(L-R) Tyrese Gibson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Vin Diesel and Ludacris attend the world premiere of Universal Pictures’ “The Fate of the Furious” at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday, New York. (Courtesy: AP/PTI)
“She was telling me something I wasn’t even aware of. I wasn’t aware of how profound the loss was,” Diesel added. “You don’t think about it while you’re living, and we’re probably all a little guilty of not telling people how much we love them while they’re here.”
The Fate of the Furious is all set for its release on Wednesday.
