The ‘Fast & Furious’ family rolled into Cannes overnight for a 25th anniversary screening of the original film, but it was Vin Diesel’s emotional tribute to the late Paul Walker that left the packed crowd visibly shattered.
Held inside the Palais during the 79th Cannes Film Festival, the midnight screening quickly became one of the festival’s hottest tickets despite Cannes this year reportedly lacking its usual level of celebrity firepower (per Hollywood Reporter).
There was something strangely fitting about ‘Fast & Furious’ taking over one of cinema’s most prestigious spaces, a franchise once dismissed as loud B-movie nonsense now sits as one of Hollywood’s biggest global machines, having pulled in more than US$7 billion worldwide since 2001.
Diesel appeared alongside Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, producer Neal H. Moritz and Meadow Walker (Paul Walker’s daughter) before the screening began, wearing a rhinestone covered jacket reading ‘Fast Forever’, Diesel spent much of the night reflecting on the franchise’s emotional core rather than its explosions or absurd car physics.
“This is a film where brotherhood was introduced to our millennium, by myself and my brother Pablo,” Diesel told the audience, using Walker’s real first name.
“The person that was not going to let me come alone here to represent that brotherhood was Meadow Walker.”
Walker died in 2013 at age 40 following a car accident, a loss that permanently altered both the franchise and its fanbase, more than a decade later, that grief still hangs over these films in a very real way.
Walker delivered one of my favourite lines of all time in the Fast and The Furious series (2 Fast 2 Furious), one that still gets quoted to this day:
According to reports from inside the theatre, audience members were openly crying by the end of the screening while giving the cast a standing ovation.
Diesel also confirmed the long awaited franchise finale remains locked for 2028, telling the crowd:
“I just want you all to know, the only reason why we’re making the finale of Fast for 2028 is because of each and every one of you that has given us your hearts and your loyalty.”
Outside the nostalgia and emotional tributes, the ‘Fast’ universe continues expanding too, with NBCUniversal currently developing a television series based on the franchise, somehow against all logic, ‘Fast & Furious’ stopped being just a dumb street racing movie years ago.
It became a generational blockbuster soap opera about grief, loyalty and found family wrapped inside increasingly ridiculous action scenes, and judging by Cannes’ reaction, people still aren’t ready to let go.
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