Vin Diesel on Late Co-star Paul Walker: 'We Never Want to Let Him Down'

Vin Diesel shared first image of Paul Walker in "Fast and Furious 7" with fans on Facebook

Universal Pictures

Vin Diesel paid tribute to Paul Walker at the Universal Pictures CinemaCon presentation Wednesday when talking about “The Fate of the Furious,” the first film of the franchise to not to feature the actor, who passed away in 2013.

“It’s a hard one, it was a hard decision to make,” Diesel said. “But… part of Paul’s legacy lives through every frame of this shoot. Every time you see any of the cast […] on the screen, you are reminded of this angel that was so integral to this concept of brotherhood for our millennium and there’s something beautiful about that. There’s something celebratory about that. The irony is that, when I thought about going into this eighth chapter, it was Paul Walker who promised eight. Played over and over in my brain, him saying, ‘eight is guaranteed.’ I always feel like he’s looking down on us, so we never want to let him down.”

After Diesel’s tribute to his friend, Universal surprised the audience with an unannounced screening of “Fate of the Furious.”

Also Read: 'The Fate of the Furious' on Track to Become 2017's Next $100M-Plus Opening

Directed by “Straight Outta Compton” helmer F. Gary Gray, “Fate of the Furious” sees the family split apart after Dominic Toretto joins forces with an international criminal, turning his former teammates into adversaries. It stars Diesel, Charlize Theron, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren, Nathalie Emmanuel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Scott Eastwood, and Kurt Russell.

Walker died in a car accident in 2013, but still filmed some of “Furious 7” before his brothers stepped in to complete his scenes.

“The Fate of the Furious,” kicking off a completely new trilogy of the series, hits theaters on April 14.

'Fate of the Furious': 8 Craziest Moments From First Trailer (Photos)

We finally got our first look at the eighth movie in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, dubbed "The Fate of the Furious." And the trailer was quite a doozie -- it showed us Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) turning on his family, as well as a parade of increasingly insane stunts and set pieces. So insane that street racing in Cuba seems positively mundane. Let's take a look.
Universal
The trailer opens with our heroes driving through a concrete wall and through a bombed-out town -- and apparently that's Roman's (Tyrese Gibson) fault. The carnage continues when Tej (Ludacris) summons a wrecking ball to wipe out a convoy of bad guys in spectacular fashion.
Universal
"The Fate of the Furious" is all about Dom's betrayal -- the team isn't going to let it slide. So they chase him down, and attempt to trap him by firing cables from five cars into his. But Dom easily does some kind of shenanigans to smash the other cars. In the process he kinda punches his own door off.
Universal
"The Fate of the Furious" will take the family to these icy wastes for a big chase that gets interrupted by, uh, a submarine. No, really, this movie is going to have a car chase that involves a submarine.
Universal
"Fate of the Furious" seems filled with stunts involving car doors, as we see Roman use his, from a cool orange Lambo, as a shield from gunfire before whacking his snowmobile-riding attacker with it. Super good.
Universal
The good guys find themselves overmatched as they try to take down Dom, so they seek help from an unlikely place: Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who killed Han. To procure his help, Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) has to go into the prison where Deckard is being held and start a riot. Hahahaha.
Universal
We still don't know the exact deal with Dom turning his back on family, but this kicker at the end of the trailer when he kisses Charlize Theron (the real villain) right in front of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is a real punch to the gut.
Universal
The "Fast" family will take to the streets of New York for the first time in "Fate of the Furious." While we don't know exactly why they'll be there, we do know that it will involve a lot of vehicular mayhem and a roof-mounted mini-gun.
Universal
We got a new chrome twist on the Universal logo, one fitting the high-octane car franchise. Even for "Fast and Furious," this is pretty out there -- most of the movies in the series thus far just had the regular old logo. Of course, this may just be a trailer thing. It's cool either way.
Universal

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Highlights include a wrecking ball nailing some bad guys and a submarine chasing cars

We finally got our first look at the eighth movie in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, dubbed "The Fate of the Furious." And the trailer was quite a doozie -- it showed us Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) turning on his family, as well as a parade of increasingly insane stunts and set pieces. So insane that street racing in Cuba seems positively mundane. Let's take a look.

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'Fate of the Furious': 8 Craziest Moments From First Trailer (Photos)

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