Because of the shooting schedule for Fast and Furious 7, the only day Paul Walker had to promote his new movie Hours was a month ahead of schedule. We’ll bring you the full interview for Hours when the film opens December 13, but of course I asked about Fast 7. As a fan of James Wan’s action movie Death Sentence, I asked Walker if Wan was bringing any of that to the Fast series.
“He’s got a really cool look, definitely a different look than what we’ve seen in the past,“ Walker said. “I like what I’m seeing, but more than that I really like him as a person. That’s paramount to me. It’s a lot easier for me to work under somebody that I respect as a human being.”
Wan is stepping into a high pressure situation as Universal announced Fast and the Furious 7 before Furious 6 (that’s what it’s called) came out. With a release date of July 11, 2014, Wan has to finish the film in just over a year. Walker says Wan is handling it gracefully.
“He stepped into something, I told him early on, I said, ‘I hope you realize what you’re getting yourself into.’” Walker said. “He said, ‘What is that?’ I said, ‘This means far too much to too many people.’ We got into it and he said, ‘You know, I heard what you were saying but I didn’t hear what you were seeing. Now that I’m here, I get it.’ He has such a strong sense of community, he’s just a good person. So as a result, even though we didn’t have enough prep time and he’s doing everything he can just to stay above water half the time, he remains positive, he remains focused, he remains not just fair but very decent, beyond decent. Just good to people every day.”
In addition to adding Jason Statham, Kurt Russell and Tony Jaa to the cast, Fast and Furious 7 also brings back Tokyo Drift’s Lucas Black, who reportedly signed for three more films. Would Walker do three more? “Oh, I don’t know, that’s all speculation,” he smiled. “I don’t know about three more.”
In addition to Hours, Walker also wrapped Brick Mansions, the American remake of District B13. He learned parkour even with an injury. “I did Brick Mansions last year,” Walker said. “That was a physical test for me. I came off an ACL injury so just a couple months later I was doing it with David Belle so it was fun.”
Walker gets really deep and personal in our Hours interview coming next month.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and Shelf Space Weekly. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
