Action star Vin Diesel boasted that the upcoming movie "Fast and Furious 7", in which he is a part of, could not just hit the box office but could also win an Oscar Best Picture.
"Universal is going to have the biggest movie in history with this movie...It will probably win best picture at the Oscars, unless the Oscars don't want to be relevant ever...This will win best picture...There is nothing that will ever come close to the power of this thing," the actor told Variety.
Diesel said he is happy with the outcome of the movie even though it was rewritten since one of its lead actors Paul Walker died in November 2013 after a car accident. The new movie franchise, he stressed, is a tribute to Walker.
"We were successful in one-upping the action sequences, and adding an interesting dynamic to the world...But what the world won't anticipate is how emotionally powerful the movie is. The head of the studio, Ron Meyer, often said when 'Fast 5′ or 'Fast 6′ came out, 'If there was no number attached to these movies, they would be contenders for best picture.' And when people see 'Furious 7,' they are going to agree," Diesel was further quoted.
Movie director James Wan also shed some light on how they were able to push the much-awaited film despite Walker's passing. Wan told Variety that they went on a hiatus to look into what they've already achieved. He added that when Walker died, they were already halfway through but they had no choice but to go back to where they started.
"It was unprecedented; there has never been a movie faced with this kind of setback before. There wasn't another director I could call and ask for advice. At first we weren't quite sure how we were going to finish this movie without Paul. But it was very important to all of us, from the filmmakers to Vin Diesel, to the producers, to finish this movie and honor Paul's legacy. So we dug deep. I always say I have a big bag of cinematic tricks at my disposal and I dug so deep into this one that I used up every single trick I can think of to make this film work," Wan said in the interview.
So what exactly did they do? Wan shared that they got Paul's brothers Caleb and Cody involved. Also, in the cast, there is an actor named John Brotherton who resembles Paul. They had an acting coach to help John and Paul's brother work the camera. "They'd never been in front of the cameras before...It was a whole different world for them and I think they had new found respect for what their brother did. I was very grateful to have the family involved."
"Fast & Furious 7" is set to hit cinemas this April. The cast list of the "Fast and Furious 7" also includes Tyrese Gibson, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Elsa Pataky, Lucas Black, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, and Jason Statham.