That's what happened when a small group of us went to the set of âFast & Furiousâ last April. While some set visits can have 15 people walking around, Universal only had six of us that night, so it was extremely intimate and it made for some great interviews.
As most of you know, Universal is releasing a new âFast & Furiousâ movie on April 3rd and it has all of the stars from the first film returning to the popular franchise: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster are all back together and racing again.
While a lot of the plot is under wraps, what you need to know is that something happened to Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and heâs forced to once again team up with agent Brian OâConner (Paul Walker) to make things right. Obviously, youâre going to see a lot of car chases, action, and insane stunts. If youâre a car enthusiast or just a fan of the franchise, youâre going to have a lot of fun watching the film.
Anyway, letâs get to the reason youâre here: my on-set interview with Paul Walker.
What I really loved about the interview with Paul was just how honest he is. Sometimes you talk to an actor and you can tell theyâre guarded and not wanting to give you a lot. Thatâs not Paul. As you can either read below or listen to by clicking here, Paul answers every question with refreshing honesty and he also reveals just how much of a car nut he is. If youâre a fan of his work or just of the âFast & Furiousâ franchise, I think youâll really like the interview.
Finally, for those that havenât yet seen the trailer for âFast & Furiousâ, itâs before the interview. And if you missed all the new images I just posted and my set report, click here. Look for more on-set interviews next week.
Question: So is this your first time doing any press for the movie?
Paul Walker: No, we did it last week. What did we do last week? We did some international and some automotive stuff. Yeah, car press is easy. What do you guys do?
I was going to make a joke, butâ¦.a lot of online.
Paul Walker: Online guys. Oh, okay.
Paul: How does it feel to have the original team back?
Paul: Itâs good. Itâs fun. Itâs good seeing Jordana again. I liked working with her the first time. Sheâs married now. Itâs crazy âcos we were all little kids. I donât even know how old she was then, yeah, sheâs married. Vinâs the same. I love Michelle. We always had fun together. Unfortunately I donât really do anything with her. Iâve seen her around like twice, but yeah sheâs fun. Sheâs so unpredictable that girl. You never know what the hell sheâs going to say. Sheâs gotten into a bit of trouble. I think sheâs misunderstood. The girlâs got the biggest heart, man. Sheâs such a sweetheart. She puts on this front of being like this big tough girl, but she has to kind of cover up what sheâs got going. Sheâs just a real sweet girl. Iâve seen her do press, too. You guys donât evenâ¦thatâs the fun part about itâ¦you guys will never see the person I see, you know having worked with her as much as I had.
Well, now weâre going to ask her.
Paul: Yeah, sheâs a sweetheart though. Sheâs an angel.
So are you guys going to get together for every 4th installment of this?
Paul: Yeah, shit. I hope itâs done. I wanted to go out this time. I thought we were done the 2nd one and the 3rd one kind of came around and this time it was Vin calling up going, âhey letâs make one moreâ. I think Vin wants to make a 5th, but yeah, I just keep coming back for one more.
Are you angling for your death scene in this?
Paul: I actually told Justin at one point that I wanted to die.
Run me over with my own car.
Paul: He says itâs not going to happen.
Is this one of these things though that youâre contractually obligated or do you come back for the fun and for the hanging out?
Paul: No, I came back for the fun and hanging out, getting paid, doing it again, you know? And the truth of the matter is I opted to take some time off. I spent too much time out of the studio game. You need to sustain those hits in order to maintain to where you can go do those smaller movies. I do have some marquee value, you know, I do have some overseas value but you sit off it too long and itâs not there, you know? In âRunning Scaredâ like yeah, it made a ton on rental and DVD sales but it didnât do anything in the box office for me. And unfortunately youâ¦I mean I loved that movie.
Itâs fucking awesome.
Paul: Yeah, thatâs probably the one Iâm most proud of but unless you have âFast and the Furiousâ behind you or something like it, thereâs no way youâre going to get the opportunity to do it. But Wayne and I are going to do another one together this fall and then weâre going to do another one first quarter of next year.
So you and Wayne are likeâ¦
Paul: Weâre going to go back-to-back.
â¦the new Scorsese and DeNiro?
Paul: Oh I donât know, but Iâm excited to go back to work with him. I did one this last spring with John Glenn. I donât know if you guys know who John Glenn isâwriter as well. Really, really cool and itâs called âThe Heaven Projectâ and itâs unfortunate because I donât know that it came together all that well. I havenât really heard about it. It was last spring actually. Thatâs the tough part. You have the freedom when you go into making one of these smaller movies, but when you donât have the support group behind itâletâs say youâre a few bucks short or youâre a few days shortâitâs like take it or leave it. We gave you want we gave you and if you canât make a good movie out of it, you canât make a good movie out of it. Itâs a bummer deal.
Is there a certain ease of doing a âFast and the Furiousâ studio movie?
Paul: Itâs funny because all the opinions sometimes they drive you crazy, right? When youâre in the middle of it youâre like, âoh my gosh.â Everyoneâs got the 2 cents to throw in and youâve got to make everyone happyâthe studio executives to producers and actors and the whole bit.
Publicists.
Paul: Yeah, publicists. Sheâs a pain in my ass. No, no, sheâs a sweetheart. But, you know, thereâs something to be said about that too. As annoying as it is, itâs a lot less likely that somethingâs going to fall through the cracks. A much better chance at the end of it youâre going to have something thatâs going to assembleâitâs going to go together the way that it read or damn close to it.
As an actor though is there something like aâ¦. Jon Favreau said something about with âIron Manâ itâs like itâs nice to do a movie that you know people are going to seeâlike itâs going to have a bigâ¦.a lot of people are going to tune into it. For you, is that also something that youâre coming back to âFast and the Furiousâ?
Paul: But I donât know that. I mean, the studio seems to think so, right? Neil seems to think so, otherwise we wouldnât be making this right now. The 3rd one made more internationally than the 1st or the 2nd one did. I mean, do we ever really know an audience is still there? I mean, maybe when this thing comes out people are going, âha ha Fast and the Furious 4, are you kidding me?â No one knows. Iâm sure theyâre doing their focus groups and theyâve got their street teams and theyâre out knocking on doors and asking people, âhey do you want to see this? Do you want to see that?â But there never is a guarantee.
But people love cars. That passionâs never going to go away, so youâll always have an audience.
Paul: Yeah, true. But what happened with âRed Lineâ?
Well, you also have to make a decent movie while youâre at it.
Paul: Yeah, so.
Iâd like to think you have name recognition of âFast and the Furiousâ whatâs your take onâ¦right now you have a temporary title of âFast and Furiousââ¦
Paul: I heard itâs Fast Furious.
It is? Like Fast/Furious?
Paul: Yeah, itâs my face and fast and then itâs Vin and heâs furious. Thatâs it.
I like that.
Paul: Thatâs what I heard.
I win.
So what kind of toys are you playing with in this one? I know you probably have new cars and all that stuff. Whatâs your most enjoyable toy that youâre playing with?
Paul: I donât know. I love the R-34, the Nissan Skyline that I drove in the beginning of the 2nd one. Brian crashes it in like the first race. Remember the cops shoot the thing at him and it wipes his car outâ¦boom. Thatâs like in the first like 2 acts of this and then itâs the new Subaru SCI, which is basically what the [inaudible] was in the 2nd one, you know the product placement and you get the whole push.
Iâm surprised they didnât bump you up to the new GTR.
Paul: Yeah, well they talked with Nissan North
Where is Brian at the beginning of this one? How much time has it been since�
Paul: Itâs been real time, so what do we do that inâitâs 4 years or so? Yeah, and so as opposed to being a cop, heâs now a fed. Heâs a federal agent and yeah, heâs just doing what he knows best. Just putting one foot in front of the other. He doesnât have any real direction. He just thinks heâs good at being a cop and I think he has that moral fiber or whatever. He really wants to bust bad guys, you know? Itâs just like thatâs what makes him feel good about himself. He doesnât really know. Heâs just kind of going in the direction that heâs always been in.
Whatâs this I hear about underground tunnels in
Paul: No, no. But theyâre digging right now.
So whatâs it like working with Vin again on this? What kind of shit do you guys do like when youâre not filming?
Paul: Not a whole lot. He does his thing and I do my thing. We show up, âhey whatâs upâ. We get along. Itâs easy with us. His position is different this time. You know, heâs got a producing credit and heâs got more juice than he did on the first one. Heâs also a director so heâs got a lot of opinions and thatâs another opinion in the pile, you know when I talk about all the people kind of coming in different directions. You know he comes up with good ideas. Sometimes Iâm just like, ah I donât want to hear it and then just as quickly as Iâm tuning him out Iâm like actually thatâs a great idea. But thatâs all it isâitâs just opinions. He has some sharp suggestions though. He just came up with one tonight thatâs really good and soâ¦
What was his big idea tonight?
Paul: It was just the way the cars were lining up. It was just real simple. Once he said it, it was like oh yeah, of course that was obvious, you know? Thereâs a chain-reaction of events that happens and heâs just like âyou know it actually makes more sense maybe if this is over hereâ and Justin thought about it and heâs like, âyeah, youâre right.â
So how quickly did this project come together from when you were offered it to when you were shooting and stuff like that?
Paul: Well, this came during the strike really. Vin was going to do it. It was just going to be just the Dominic Toretto story and then he wanted me to be in it as well and so they took what they had and I guess the re-wrote it and it was the right timing, I guess, for the studio. They wanted to make it right now, you know? Nothing else is really going on and writers are on strike. They already had the screenplay so they made the adjustments they needed to and we just kind of rocked into it and weâve been fixing it as weâve been going?
Did Vin knock on your personally and ask you to be in this?
Paul: Yeah.
What can audiences expect thatâll be different from the first two films that you were in? Whatâs going to be different about this one?
Paul: I just look at this one as itâs really the first true sequel. Vin and I in the first one and itâs kind of like okay, theyâre back together again finally. The fans that I run into on the street are likeâ¦for years it was like âoh when are you going to make another âFast and the Furiousâ and then it was âwhy wasnât Vin in the 2nd one?â and now I know itâs going to be âwhereâs Tyrese? Why wasnât Tyrese in this one?â But when I tell them yeah, Vin and I are back and are making another one, people are pretty excited about itâthe ones that care anyway.
Do they address Tyrese in the script at all or do theyâ¦
Paul: Oh weâve been talking about itâJustin and I. Justinâs like âis it shameless? I mean, should be bring Tyrese in?â and Justin and I both are on the same page. I think he should. Why not? I mean, weâre making a 4th one for crying out loud, you know what I mean? Letâs bring in Tyrese, too. Weâve got Letty. Weâve got Mia. Weâve got Brian, weâve got Dom, yeah Michelle. Letâs bring in Roman Pierce, may as well. Wouldnât hurt.
So you guys are re-writing this as you go along?
Paul: Yeah.
So you could do that?
Paul: We could do it. I mean, there is a sequence at the end, you know, and it would just fit. It would work. It wouldnât be too hard. But then itâs really just kind of a cameo at the end of it. Which, itâs fun because Tyrese was bitâ¦wowâ¦.his big heroic moment. It could be fun.
Is the film winking at all at the audience or are you guys playing it like real serious?
Paul: No. Iâm playing it pretty straightâas straight as I can. I donât know, I canât say too much. Iâll get in trouble, butâ¦.
Donât worry; weâll cut it out. Weâre under embargo anyway.
Paul: No, weâre making a good day out of it and I really like Justin a lot. Heâs got the right attitude for it. It doesnât take itself too seriously and then I guess then in that case it is winking at it a little bit.
So weâre going to watch you shoot a little later. What are we going to see?
Paul: Weâve all basically just made this run across the open desert through the tunnels and all that stuff and we arrive at the drop off point and Dom and Brian donât really know what to expect. They get there and itâs pretty bad. These guys are going to off each and every guy they got the job to run this stuff across the desert. And Dom basically pulls a maneuver that saves everybody.
Youâve been rehearsing the action scene?
Paul: No, we just went up there and blocked it out. This is a painful sequence. Thereâs so many people involved. Big explosions. The whole bit. Itâs going to be drawn out. Weâre doing this for the next 4 nights.
So how long is the shooting schedule all together and where are you at right now?
Paul: Weâre getting close to day 50. Weâre over the hump so I think thereâs only 70-something days in the schedule.
Okay.
Paul: So, yeah.
So is it challenging at all to doâ¦do you like doing all the driving stuff yourself?
Paul: I donât get to do any of it anymore.
Insurance reasons or�
Paul: Yeah, insurance reasons and the 2nd unit is bigger than ever. Weâre limited by our days and yeah, the 1st one they let me do a lot of driving but Iâm sure the insurance policy wasnât that much then either, which is kind of a disappointment but I knew it going into it. The 2nd one I didnât get to do half of what I did in the 1st one. The 1st one I got to do most of the driving through like the intersections. I actually got to get the car sideways a couple of times and the 2nd one all I got to do was one pretty static shot where I just come racing up to the camera and I just put it into a slide and just (makes a driving sound) and dimed it right at the steady cam operator. That was my only real shot I got to play in.
Are you getting to fire a gun or throw punches at least?
Paul: Yeah, Vin and I get into it at one point but Brian accepts the beating because he does something wrong and Domâs all pissed off. Yeah, thatâs pretty much it.
Do you find like a lot of people--youâre known with âFast and the Furiousâ--and a lot of people are really strong car people, so do you have people coming up to you all the time trying to show you whatâs under the hood? Trying to show you their cars?
Paul: Yeah, all the time. Well, just because Iâm a car freak, right? And Iâm on the boards and everything. E-46 fanatics and you name it. Iâm always checking stuff out and I have a tuning shop in
What do you like driving?
Paul: I love Porscheâs. I like everything. I like Euros, Japanese. Iâve got a pretty good balance of everything, but my track car right now I have a GT-3. A 996-GT3, the older generation. I had one and sold it, got the 997-GT3. I like the 996 more so, I went back and got another one and I saved a few bucks so that was good.
So by being an actor and being in these films and do you get hooked up by some of the car companies?
Paul: No. And people are always telling me like âwhy donât you push that angle?â Iâm just too lazy.
Iâd be playing that up, man.
Paul: Iâm just too lazy and nothingâs free anyways. You know how that is, right? Itâs like okay, weâll give you seats now and racing harnesses but come do a photo shoot for us later, you know? Iâll just pay for it. I get everything wholesale anyways.
With how into cars you are do you bring any of your expertise to the film in suggesting anything for the cars?
Paul: Yeah, Iâm the headache. I think Dennis likes it, you know the picture car coordinator. We get along pretty well. Justin calls me asking me on just about everything. Iâve got a couple of my cars in the movie and I called BS on a couple of things and made them change it on the fly, but just because thatâs the realm Iâm in. I deal with it. Things that arenât accurate, Iâve got guys going, âthat was so badâ. I mean, Iâve got more pressure now than before.
There seems to be a lot of the old school muscle cars in this one - more than the exotics. You have a preference over what youâd like to see in the films or does it matter?
Paul: No, no. I told them from the get-goâfrom the onsetâI said, âhey look weâve got domestics and weâve got American cars, we need Euros.â We missed it almost every time. So weâve got Porscheâs. I wanted a B-5 S4 Audi. We got that in there. We got an M3âan E36 MC supercharged. We got a pretty good spread of Euros. We got a newâ¦.
That is true. Just looking back at the last 3, I donât remember there being any.
Paul: We have the Caamen S with the full tech art body kit. Itâs actually Tech Artâs carâthatâs featured. Weâve got a lot of European cars in this one.
Oh cool.
Paul: Yeah, we needed that.
So with your interest in accuracy that means youâre sort of more into making the stunts and the action more realistic?
Paul: Yeah, as they referred to it in the ones prior, itâs more like a hyper-real. We had a lot of that in the 1st and the 2nd one, you know, the big jump across the bridge. The car going into the boat. And Justin is more into the realism than I think other people may have been. So itâs still always a compromise, you know. The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line and thatâs what I argue all the time because everyoneâs into this whole drifting thing. Well, you drift for show, you straight-line it for dough, right? You want to get to the finish line, you drive straight. So Iâve been arguing with Justin, I was like, âHey have those guys drifting and all that. Let me just cut the inside line and wow, just be on track.â Heâs like, âWell, that doesnât look very good.â I said, âWell in the beginning of the race then have me drift with them and then cut itâ.
Did he go for it?
Paul: I donât know. Heâs like, âUhhâ. Heâs mulling it about in his head right now.
So when you and Wayne get back together is it going to be a crazy thing like âRunning Scaredâ again orâ¦?
Paul: Yeah, itâs going to be real visceral. He says the 3rd act in this next one weâre going to do is going to make âRunning Scaredâ look like Romper Room.
Wow.
Paul: Yeah. And from what Iâve read itâs right there. Itâs crazy. Itâs really twisted.
Is this the Satan one he keeps talking about or is this something different?
Paul: Thatâs the other one. Weâre not going to do that one first.
Okay, so the Satan one is next?
Paul: Um-hum.
And this year is something else.
Paul: We donât have the money for that one yet, but weâll get it.
Are you going to play Satan?
Paul: Yeah. The Anti-Christ. Beelzebub reincarnated. Yeah.
Very cool.
Paul: Yeah, itâll be fun. Bye guys. Take it easy. Good to see you all again.