We are one week away from the anniversary of the tragic death of Fast and Furious icon, Paul Walker, whose autopsy update revealed was still alive immediately after the car crash, but the cast of Furious 7 are still honoring his memory in interview after interview. Even Bollywood actor Ali Fazal, who makes his Fast debut when the new movie is released April 4, recalled how great a time he spent working with Paul and Vin Diesel as they joked around during scenes. Ali says he will never forget hanging out with the whole Fast and Furious team on what turned out to be Walker's fortieth and final birthday.
Fast and Furious franchise star Vin Diesel has made no secret about what a difficult time returning to the set of Furious 7 was for him after the death of his best friend, Paul Walker.
For Indian actor Ali Fazal working on the film was an absolutely delightful experience, however--being that he filmed his scene before Paul Walker's untimely demise last November.
In an interview with The Times of India, Fazal recalled how at home everyone seemed to be with one another the day he dropped by the set to film his cameo:
"On the first day, we shot a scene in a garage and it also happened to be Paul's birthday...So, it was a special day for the team."
"Paul was a funny man and a great performer. Vin Diesel and he kept cracking up in the scene because I had turned the entire character around and it was kind of funny.
"I will always cherish the time I spent on that set."
Sadly, for Vin Diesel that work stopped being fun once he returned from Paul Walker's funeral.
When Diesel stopped by Live with Kelly and Michael!, after he had finally finished all his scenes, Vin explained that returning to play Dom was one of the hardest things he had ever been asked to do:
"It was someone that, we...we grew up in the business together, and we became famous together, and we represented the biggest franchise together.
"He was my partner, and it's a strange thing to...I've been acting all my life and they don't teach you in acting [school], how to mourn someone and simultaneously pretend they're in a scene with you."
Interestingly enough, that isn't the hardest thing that a director has asked the actor to do in service of a film.
Riddick told the London Evening Post that technically the most difficult thing he had ever done for a film was trying to emote the true meanings of his line from Guardians of the Galaxy, "I am Groot":
"I asked James [Gunn, the director]: 'Can you give me a basic idea of what he's trying to say when he's saying, "I am Groot"?
"He had a 50-page document waiting for me...On the left-hand side of the page it said 'I am Groot' and on the right-hand side it had whatever the line really was.
"It was the most challenging thing to ask an actor to do."
Hell, if you thinks that a lot to ask...James Wan still had to get Paul Walker to finish Fast and Furious 7, and he was dead.
