It’s been almost a decade since Paul Walker tragically lost his life in a car crash at the age of 40. His friends, fans, and family were devastated by his unexpected death, and his sudden passing also hit his Fast & Furious family hard. The late Fast & Furious star was filming the billion-dollar blockbuster Furious 7 at the time of the incident. While most of his Fast family have evocated his name multiple times celebrating Walker's life, the sequel’s director James Wan has now opened up about how hard it was completing the film after losing one of its main stars.
The M3GAN producer was riding off the success of the first Conjuring film when he asked to direct the seventh installment of the Fast & Furious franchise. With the main Fast & Furious franchise edging toward its swan song, James Wan called the seventh installment the “hardest” of his decades-long career as he reflected on the sequel being his first big-budget film. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker explained,
Coming from the low-budget horror world to a big-budget action racing franchise would be a shock for any director. Luckily, James Wan was down for the intense outrageousness of the Fast & Furious series. Pitching one of the film’s more memorable sequences proved he was ready for action stunts. His hard work and dedication to Furious 7 worked out well, as the film grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide.
While the seventh film was a runaway hit, James Wan went into more detail about why the movie was hard to finish. He opened about the hardships the production faced in the wake of Walker’s absence. The acclaimed director dug into the cast and crew’s initial thoughts about carrying on after losing one of the franchise’s most integral leading stars, saying,
As James Wan points out, AI technology wasn’t on the level of where it's at today when Furious 7 was shooting. He and the crew had to use movie magic and trickery to finish Walker’s scenes. Thankfully, his past dialogue and younger brothers were able to fill in for the late actor. Using the tech of the time allowed the cast and crew to give Paul Walker and Brian O’Conner a proper send-off.
Unfortunately, that was Wan’s only entry into the intense racing franchise, though he has since helmed other big-budget action films, including Aquaman and its upcoming sequel, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom.
The Fast & Furious franchise has continued to honor Paul Walker memory by keeping his character alive in the fast-paced world, albeit away from all the action. Fast X took the family motto even further by including a cameo from Paul Walker’s daughter Meadow. The tenth film has continued to do well at the box office despite dipping in its second weekend.
If you want to relive Paul Walker’s best Brian O’Conner moments, get an active Amazon Prime Video subscription to watch Fast & Furious 6. The first five Fast & Furious films and Furious 7 are currently available with a Peacock subscription.