The movie must go on. Paul Walker's Fast & Furious costars headed back to work this month to finish filming the seventh installment of their world-famous franchise. Production was shut down after the actor's fatal car accident on Nov. 30, but the cast is now back in Atlanta to wrap things up — and they're definitely feeling his absence.
"This is the only movie I ever worked on where we are all real close even after the movie is over," Tyrese Gibson told TooFab of the Fast & Furious crew. "It wasn't just losing a costar, he was family for real. That's why it took so long to recover."
Gibson, 35, went on to say that he's not the same person he was when they left off with production several months ago. "Hopefully no one else is hurt during filming," he added.
"God's grace is all we have," he continued. "Before we start filming we are going to have a strong prayer. That will be the start, before we film anything. That's what is needed for us to do Fast & Furious 7."
Well, that and some new inspiration. Vin Diesel, who plays Dom in the franchise, wrote on his Facebook page that he's approaching this seventh film with a different kind of motivation.
"The transition into that Dom state of mind has always been an interesting one," he explained. "Only this time there is added purpose, a collective goal to make this [movie] the best one in the series." The action star, 46, also shared an old photo of himself with Walker, writing simply, "We are going back in this month, Pablo…I know you are with me."
Walker was just 41 when he died in a car accident with another friend, Roger Rodas, last November. After his death, screenwriters scrambled to rework the script for Fast & Furious 7. "They're having to rewrite, they're having to do whatever they're having to do to deal with the situation," actor Kurt Russell said, according to the BBC. (Russell, 63, was cast as a father figure to Walker's character, Brian O'Connor.)
"It's catastrophic," he continued. "It's the worst thing that could happen to a movie." Then, qualifying his statement, he added: "But it's not as bad as what happened to Paul."
