{"id":641865,"date":"2026-05-14T03:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T03:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641865\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T03:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T03:17:08","slug":"vin-diesel-remembers-paul-walker-at-fast-and-furious-cannes-screening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641865\/","title":{"rendered":"Vin Diesel Remembers Paul Walker at Fast and Furious Cannes Screening"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tVin Diesel<\/a> couldn\u2019t help but shed a few tears as the credits rolled on the special midnight screening of \u201cThe Fast and the Furious\u201d at Cannes.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was enough to process that the festival considered the high-octane street racing movie a \u201cclassic\u201d after 25 years. But the emotion was heightened by seeing his bond with his late co-star, Paul Walker<\/a>, play out on the big screen.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI pray that in your life, you can have a brother like Paul,\u201d Diesel said, after taking a moment to compose himself before addressing the sold-out crowd inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre. <\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, Diesel wasn\u2019t alone in his emotion \u2014 fellow \u201cFast\u201d stars Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez and Walker\u2019s 27-year-old daughter, Meadow, all wiped tears away as the well-heeled audience honored them with a four-minute standing ovation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s so hard for me to watch it because there\u2019s so many moments in this movie that you see, that I see differently,\u201d Diesel added. \u201cThe scene that you see, I see the moment Pablo told me he had a one-year-old daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDiesel concluded his teary remarks by pulling Meadow in to hug him while he shared something she\u2019d told him earlier in the day. \u201cShe said, \u2018I\u2019m 27, and I\u2019m watching this film that my father made at 27,\u2019 and I thought, \u2018How profound,’\u201d Diesel said. \u201cMeadow has been such a source of strength, and I know he\u2019d be so proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was an emotional conclusion to a memorable late-night screening; at 11:55 p.m., Diesel stepped out of his car to walk onto the famed red carpet at the Palais des Festivals. The actor \u2014 wearing a diamond-encrusted blazer with the \u201cFast Forever\u201d logo embroidered on the back, signaling the long-running franchise\u2019s end \u2014 worked the crowd gathered on the Croisette before the crew made their way inside the packed theater. <\/p>\n

\n\tBefore the screening began, Diesel took the mic and showed some love to Cannes director Thierry Fr\u00e9maux. \u201cThierry, where did you get everyone?\u201d Diesel joked. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a midnight screening like this in my whole life. Thierry, it\u2019s not like this movie hasn\u2019t been out for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBeing selected to screen at Cannes was particularly poignant, Diesel explained. \u201c[Thierry] said something to me earlier today at lunch, something I\u2019ll never forget. You said to me, \u2018Vin, you came here 31 years ago as a director, writer and actor of a short film [1995\u2019s \u201cMulti-Facial\u201d]. When you came, you had a laundry bag as a suitcase. No one in the world knew you.\u2019 You said, \u2018The reason why it\u2019s so special that you\u2019re here now is because, in my mind, you, Vin, were born in Cannes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe crowd was extremely warm to Diesel, who received shouts of \u201cwe love you\u201d from audience members and many rounds of raucous applause and laughter. In a moment of self-deprecating humor, Diesel acknowledged he was close to overstaying his welcome on the mic \u2014 it was nearly 12:30 a.m. by this point, after all \u2014 joking, \u201cFuck the film. I\u2019m only here once in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also gave a special shoutout to Meadow for joining him at the screening in honor of her father. \u201cThis is a film where brotherhood was introduced to our millennium, by myself and my brother Pablo,\u201d Diesel continued. \u201cAnd the person that was not going to let me come alone here to represent that brotherhood is Meadow Walker. <\/p>\n

\n\tThen, Diesel, turned his attention to the franchise\u2019s fans. \u201cI\u2019m gonna go and shed a tear real quick, but I just want you all to know, the only reason why we\u2019re making the finale of \u2018Fast\u2019 for 2028 is because of each and every one of you that has given us your hearts and your loyalty,\u201d he said. \u201cEach and every one of you that has felt like you were a part of our family, you make us have to continue. You make us want to make you all proud. What you\u2019re gonna watch tonight is the beginning of one word, and that word is love. I love you all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReleased on June 22, 2001, \u201cThe Fast and the Furious\u201d launched Universal Pictures\u2019 longest-running and most profitable movie franchise: the series spans 11 feature films \u2014 10 \u201cFast\u201d movies and the spinoff \u201cHobbs & Shaw \u2014 and has earned more than $7 billion at the worldwide box office. The 2001 movie, directed by Rob Cohen and co-written by David Ayer, became a box office hit, grossing $207 million worldwide on a reported $38 million budget. The \u201cFast\u201d franchise would evolve into some of Hollywood\u2019s most expensive movies ever, with 2023\u2019s \u201cFast X\u201d costing more than $300 million to produce. 2015\u2019s \u201cFurious 7\u201d and 2017\u2019s \u201cThe Fate of the Furious\u201d both crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe expected final \u201cFast\u201d movie, titled \u201cFast Forever,\u201d is expected to conclude the quarter-century saga of Diesel\u2019s Dominic Toretto and his crew of street racers-turned-skilled government assets. Variety reported in March <\/a>that Michael Lesslie had boarded the film as screenwriter, with director Louis Leterrier set to return after joining the franchise for \u201cFast X.\u201d Universal has dated the film for theatrical release on March 17, 2028<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c25 years. Eight directors. Countless writers, crew members, performers, each one giving something real to a saga that has outlasted trends, cynics, and time itself,\u201d Diesel wrote on Instagram at the time. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t happen by accident\u2026 It happens because people show up and pour themselves into something bigger than any one individual.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vin Diesel couldn\u2019t help but shed a few tears as the credits rolled on the special midnight screening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[32176,88,115123,206,162655,88737],"class_list":["post-641865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-fast-and-furious","tag-movies","tag-paul-walker","tag-vin-diesel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}