All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S03E05.A.Death.in.The.Family.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: Just days before
Fast Five hit cinemas,

Universal revealed
the future of the franchise.

Put simply...

We're gonna make as many
of these as we possibly can,

and we're gonna greenlight
more than one.

NARRATOR: The sixth and seventh
instalments were confirmed.

They committed
to Fast 6and 7,

and they wanted to shoot them
back to back.

NARRATOR: The franchise
was becoming a factory.

Now the challenge was producing
bigger and better blockbusters.

Have to dig deeper than that.

You just always have to
keep on topping yourself.

You make a mistake,
you pay the price.

You're starting to wonder,
what on earth are they
going to do?

I was hoping you'd say that.

Ten times the carnage
of five James Bond films.

Now the fights were just as big
as the street races.

How were we gonna make
the tank do what a tank
is supposed to do?

[GUNFIRE]

No idea goes to waste.

NARRATOR: But
would the team's mantra...

Everything we do is real.

NARRATOR:
...still be achievable?

We had less prep
than we normally did.

Then it becomes,
"How are we gonna do this?

"This is crazy!"

Are they gambling on something
they might lose on?

NARRATOR: But even
at its biggest,

the challenge facing
this filmmaking family

was nothing compared
to the one crash...

[LOUD CRASH]

...that was never
in the script.

JACK: And in every
Fast and Furious,
it gets bigger and bigger.

But it's just too dangerous.

We're doing stunts that are
very life-threatening.

[OPENING THEME MUSIC]

NARRATOR: Once upon a time,
The Fast and the Furious

was a simple car movie

about a humble
undercover agent.

It was an $80,000
vehicle, officer.

And the street racers...

Oh, damn, girl!

NARRATOR: By Fast Five,
Justin Lin was shooting
for his dream movie.

And if he had to put
a name to it...

Like a James Bond vibe.

-James Bond.
-James Bond.

World domination,
same old dream.

DOM: All right, Hobbs.

You've got the best crew
in the world standing
right in front of you.

Give them a reason to stay.

JACOB: Furious Six turns into
the first "save the world"
type of mission movie.

We're not dealing with cops,
we're not dealing
with drug dealers.

It's a whole different level.

The first time
that it's fully globe-trotting.

NARRATOR: A movie of this scale
needed a super-size cast.

And that's just what it got.

JACOB: Here's the only movie
in the entire franchise

that features all eight
of who I consider
the core family members

working together as one team.

WOMAN: Dom and Letty.

MAN: Brian and Mia.
Roman and Tej,

Gisele and Han.

JACOB: Not to mention,
everyone's favorite,
Agent Hobbs.

And introducing,
MMA's Gina Carano
as Riley Hicks

MAN: [GRUNTING] Ow!

NARRATOR: But getting the band
back together,

meant scriptwriter
Chris Morgan would have to
perform another miracle.

Having already brought Han back
from the dead in Fast Four...

Heard they're doing some
crazy shit in Tokyo.

NARRATOR: ...it was now
Letty's turn.

I think Vin and everybody
kind of just realized

how important Letty was.

She has always been
such a solid solid foundation

for a lot of the emotion
of these movies.

NARRATOR: Last seen DOA in LA,

Letty was back.

Kind of.

She's Letty,
but she's not Letty.

NARRATOR: Because Letty
had amnesia.

It was done... pretty clever.

NARRATOR: So clever,
it was a surprise.

Even to the actress
playing Letty.

Michelle Rodriguez told me
that she didn't even know

that Letty was alive

until she went and saw
Fast Five in the theater.

NARRATOR: And learnt
along with the rest of us,

that Letty had
somehow survived.

And then, she walked out,
kind of called Vin and said,
"What the hell?

"Why didn't you say anything?"

NARRATOR: Michelle Rodriguez
barely had time to think,

before pre-production
got underway in February, 2012.

When it came to the cars,

the director decided
it was time

to reinvent the wheel.

Jason came up with a great car

the bad guy uses to flip cars.

NARRATOR: Conveniently called
"the flip car."

It's funny because whenever
we flip cars,

one of the way we flip cars,
we use pipe ramps.

NARRATOR: The cleverly
hidden ramps that enable
the cars to fly.

We have to hide it,
disguise it, you know?

NARRATOR: The flip car
was its own pipe ramp,

meaning it could flip cars
like burger patties.

SPIRO: We're like,
"Oh, my God."

We could sit here,
and flip cars, and not hide it,

and actually show it off
how we do it.

So, that was brilliant.

NARRATOR: But driving
that change required
a whole new approach

from veteran stunt driver,
Debbie Evans.

It was a lot of fun,

but very dangerous
at the same time,

because of some of
the turns and everything.

You could steer all four wheels.

There was a little
toggle switch.

When you put it to the right,
the rear wheels would turn
to the right.

So you could actually
crab the car over,

and then you could spin it out
really fast too.

You could just do opposite
and it'd just spin like this.

We tested side, sliding,
we tested hitting cars...

NARRATOR: But one thing
they hadn't tested,

was the nerve
of the London authorities,

who took one look
at the flip car

and flipped their lids.

We needed to find a location.

Who's gonna let us take
a flip car to flip cars

down a street that looks
like London, you know?

NARRATOR: With only
weeks to regroup,

the production found
a stand-in for London
in Scotland.

[BAGPIPES PLAYING]

-NARRATOR: No, not there.
-[BAGPIPES FADING]

Here, in Glasgow.

And they said that's all
you can have.

NARRATOR: Well, to be clear,
not the whole city,
just two blocks.

And I'm like, how are we
gonna take two blocks

and make it look like
five-minutes-long
of going through a whole city?

NARRATOR: But the solution
was simple.

SPIRO: Once you're into
the action sequence,

nobody's gonna really focus
on where you're at.

As long as you're going by
a building or whatever,

it could be the same building.
If you just do minor changes,

nobody's gonna know.

NARRATOR: And so,
downtown Glasgow would stand in
for dreary old London,

even if they were just driving
past the same building.

But the flip car sequence
wasn't the only
destructive set piece

planned for the home
of Big Ben.

In fact, the director was keen
on making central London

look an awful lot
like a warzone.

Justin wanted to go in and do
a crazy tank sequence

NARRATOR: Using his Golden Eye,

to create his own
Bond-esque sequence

in Piccadilly Circus, no less,

one of London's
most iconic areas.

We can really come up
with a cool tank,

but then how are we gonna make
the tank actually do

what a tank's supposed to do?

I go, "I don't wanna
do visual effects,
we wanna do it real."

This was a good challenge.

And it really, the answer's
right in front of our face.
I was like,

let the tank do
what it really would do.

[RATTLING AND THUDDING]

I read that going,
this is crazy!

There's no way in hell
this is ever gonna work.

NARRATOR: And well,
the city of London agreed.

We can't just go down
a city street with a real tank,

with the weight and the treads,
and just tear up the roads!

NARRATOR: So Justin had to
settle for a more demure
car chase through London.

But Justin was determined
to shoot his beloved
tank sequence.

He just needed to find a way.
A "freeway."

And thanks to
the Canary Islands,
he did.

There was a freeway,
that was built,
that never got finished.

Brand-new, said,
"So as long as you
repair it afterwards,

you can use it. We said "wow!"

NARRATOR: Justin Lin
finally had his warzone.

But to avoid civilian
casualties on set,

this had to be shot
just the right way.

SPIRO: Using longer lenses
to make it look more closer,

you know, side angles
where people were safe.

But we're close to the tank,
and it looked like they
almost got hit.

NARRATOR: That was important.

Because a real tank
meant real danger.

DEBBIE: The tank was coming,
and there was one car
right in front...

That was me. [LAUGHS]

And all this stuff was going on
right behind me and everything,

and I'm just looking at
my mirrors, going, "Okay...

I'm like, so you just really
thought of all of this stuff?

I mean, it's unbelievable.

NARRATOR: But it wasn't just
blatant destruction.

There were limits.

There's all these strange rules
that you have to do

to be PG-13.

Those cars,
the tanks drove over...

The people would run
out of the cars before
the tank drove over them.

They're empty cars.

[MAN SCREAMING]

NARRATOR: Because,
in a PG-13 world...

No innocent people should die.

ROMAN: [SCREAMING] Somebody
better do something!

I got a tank on my ass!

NARRATOR: If that
seemed far-fetched,

it was nothing compared to
what Dom needed to pull

to save Letty's life.

Yeah, that was one where we were
all like, "Oh, my God."

NARRATOR: The laws of physics
went out the window,
just like Dom,

making his receiving ability
a literal far-fetch.

Like, the physics,
did it even work?

Does that... Would that...
You wouldn't... There's no way.

[THUDS]

You just go along
with it because...

It's entertaining.

NARRATOR:
While its plausibility
was questionable,

there was no denying
its heroics.

Probably stretching it,
but also I would argue,

maybe the most romantic thing

that's ever happened
in film history.

NARRATOR: That in itself
may be a stretch.

But romantic or not,
Letty had again escaped death.

And that's what
makes Fastgreat.

It just takes it
to the next level.

NARRATOR: Fast Six was turning
outrageous into the new normal.

And action set pieces
were just the beginning.

It gets bigger
and bigger and bigger,
but it's just too dangerous.

We're doing stunts that are
very life-threatening,

and, you know,
for life-threatening stunts,

you have to be aware
of the consequences.

NARRATOR: The Fast
And The Furious
had come a long way

from the streets of LA
where it all began.

JACOB: Where previously,
the street races
were the big thing,

now the fights were just as big

as the street races
or anything else.

NARRATOR: It was all there
in black and white,
or black and blue,

on every page
of Chris Morgan's script.

We're writing the script,
a fight ensues,

and it needs to be
the biggest fight

in the history of Hollywood.

NARRATOR: And to make
that happen,

Justin Lin had drafted in
the best fighters.

Enter MMA legend
Gina Carano.

Not experienced actress,
so at the beginning,

I think there was a lot of
shyness in a way,

and being on set
with all these actors,

and they had been working
with each other for years now...

NARRATOR: But delivering
an uppercut is not the same
as delivering a line.

And Gina had to find her feet
as an actress.

Gina got into her fighter mode.

And right before filming,

she became almost like
a different person.

[GINA GRUNTING]

It was spectacular to see that.

We're like, "Oh, my gosh.
This is the best
girl-fight ever!"

That was nice to see
the women having higher stakes.

NARRATOR: While
Michelle Rodriguez relished
meeting her match,

the same cannot be said
of Vin Diesel.

Vin... It's his movie,
he's producing it.

He's the one that's trying
to lead creatively
behind the scenes,

NARRATOR: But at the end
of the film,

Vin found himself between
The Rock and a hard place.

You know,
they were squaring off,
there was a mutual respect.

That's the way it's supposed
to be perceived.

NARRATOR: Whatever was going on
in this awkward moment

depicting an awkward moment,

it was made to serve the story
by some astute directing.

I think the actors requested it
to be designed
for that moment...

Till next time.

Till next time.

...so that they were both
on equal footing.

NARRATOR: It seemed
Justin Lin can find a way
to make anything work.

But epic set pieces
were his specialty

and Fast Six had
one of the biggest.

FRED: After the fourth movie,

Justin called me
to work on pre-vis

for what was intended
to be Fast Five.

The sequence
that we were working on

was the team brings down
an airplane.

NARRATOR: And although
the scene never made it
into the film,

It pretty clearly was used
when they were doing

the air strip sequence
for the sixth movie.

No idea goes to waste!

NARRATOR: Shot in
an Air Force base
outside London,

the 12-and-a-half-minute
sequence took three weeks
to capture

and felt almost
as long on screen.

We had done an interior
of the plane on stage,

and then we also had
a plane structure
for exterior shots

with all of the flames
and everything,

on a big huge runway.

NARRATOR: A huge runway
that almost stole the show.

You could have some problems
with how long the runway is.

NARRATOR: When fans realized
how unbelievably lengthy
it had to be...

DEREK: I think someone
actually did the math,

and said that that would be
like a 30-mile runway.

NARRATOR: Meaning the runway
would span the entire length
of Manhattan,

and then back!

[CHUCKLING] We always tease
about that, the runway
that never ended.

NARRATOR: When all was done,
the disaster scale set piece

would honor a tradition that
dated back to Fast Four.

I got you!

NARRATOR: In which
just as one character
returns from the dead,

another is disposed of.

[GASPS]

[SCREAMING] No!

GREG: I think the studio
did not want Gal to die.

Yet another example
of Justin saying "No,
there has to be consequences."

NARRATOR: And so, Gal Gadot
exited the franchise.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes,
one of the Fast family's
most trusted creators

also left the franchise.

FRED: I was working on
Django Unchained

whenFast Six was happening.

There was no way for me
to do both.

NARRATOR: Luckily,
Fred's assistant Greg was
ready and willing to take over.

But the massive workload
meant Greg's dream

was also a bit of a nightmare.

I was terrified every single day
I was on that picture.

NARRATOR: Perhaps
because Greg was getting
a little too close to his work.

It was some scene that involved
a close-up of Paul.

And I just mentioned, you know,
how good it looked.

Fred concocted this totally
farcical story

that I was enamored with Paul,

and I had said that
Paul's blue eyes were striking.

I still declared
that it happened.

I'm not sure if he said
"striking" or "brilliant."

But either way... [LAUGHING]
It stuck!

And Fred just ran
with that mercilessly.

This resulted in birthday cakes
with Paul Walker's face on them.

It was such an embarrassment
for Greg.

NARRATOR: But nothing
could prepare Greg
for one final ripping.

I was running late one day,

and I'm just trying to
compose myself
'cause I was running late...

And all of a sudden,
the door opens,

and in comes Paul.

[ALL CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[ALL LAUGHING]

GREG: Holy Fuck! Oh, my God.

Paul is smiling,
and he's unveiled

the famous Burt Reynolds
Cosmopolitan picture.

[ALL CHEERING AND LAUGHING]

Him on the bear skin rug, naked.

He photoshopped Paul's head
on the body of Burt Reynolds!

GREG: Wow!

[ALL LAUGHING]

I'm like I can't
effing believe this.

Everybody's laughing!

[CHUCKLES]

GREG: I hate Fred Raskin
and I hate everybody

who was part of that joke.

But not Paul.

[ALL LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY]

NARRATOR: But Greg's
biggest challenge would be

finding a way to link Fast Six

back to the third film,
Tokyo Drift,

because there was still

the tricky matter
of Han's death.

Six finally catches up to Han's
death in Tokyo Drift.

NARRATOR: So
after the credits roll,

we'd come upon Han in Tokyo,

about to meet his fate.

[REVVING HARD]

JACOB: And they make it
fit in nice and neatly
in the story there,

to then bring in
the villain of Furious Seven,

Jason Stathom's Deckard Shaw.

NARRATOR: Allowing Fast Six
to point to Fast Seven

by taking us all the way back
to Fast Three in Tokyo...

They retconned a second time

in using
the same death sequence

of the crashed Han
in Tokyo Drift

Jason Stathom's Deckard Shaw
was there all along,

he was a part of that.

And suddenly now,

that movie fits very nicely
in the timeline.

Han's death fits nicely
in the timeline.

NARRATOR: ...and allowing
for this explosive entrance.

Dominic Toretto.

You don't know me.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING IN BACKGROUND]

You're about to.

NARRATOR: All of which
worked well for the Fast
and Furious timeline,

but not so well for director
Justin Lin's timeline.

Because the studio wanted them
so fast back to back,

he wasn't able to do
pre-production on Fast Seven,

and they had to bring
someone new in

which is the reason why
Fast Sixis the last one
for the time being,

that Justin Lin directs.

NARRATOR: It was the end
of the runway for Justin Lin

who had inherited
a car movie series,

and turned it into
a blockbuster franchise.

I've got to meet a lot of
other directors on Fast

that had been wonderful,
but Justin is the one
that has made it all possible.

NARRATOR: It was time
to pass the baton.

Universal contracted
a new director,

and this would be a truly
horrifying development.

I'm like, okay...

NARRATOR: The seventh
installment in theFast
and Furious franchise

saw the arrival of its
fourth director in its
ten-year history.

James Wan came along
to do Fast Seven.

NARRATOR: And with Fast Six
having earned $790 million

against a budget
of $160 million,

James had big boots to fill.

BILL: James, he came out of
very low budget horror films,

and James is a great
story teller.

To him, it's about
making it big and fun,

and taking the audience
on a visual journey.

NARRATOR: Universal ran
a risk of its own horror show

if its new charge stumbled
on the big stage...

We were just really curious
to see what his vision
was gonna be

and how his story-telling
was gonna differ from what
we were used to with Justin.

NARRATOR: Having set
the bar high,

Fast Seven had to find
a way to go higher.

Fortunately, internal
focus groups proved

Universal already
had the answer,

and it was simple:
Bruce Willis.

I remember somebody
in that focus group

commenting on how great it was
to see Bruce Willis

show up at the end
at Han's death.

NARRATOR: That's right.
A surprisingly youthful-looking
Bruce Willis

had appeared at the end
of Fast Six and the...
wait a minute.

We're like, okay.

NARRATOR: Hey, that's...
Jason Statham.

I guess all action heroes
look the same to some people.

Sometimes, they miss
the mark a little bit,

but they were still
happy about that.

NARRATOR: Happy
because Jason Statham
pointed toward the arrival

of a new character,
and possibly a new direction.

JACOB: Deckard Shaw is here
to avenge his brother

who they had just taken down
in the previous movie.

I'm here for the team
that crippled my brother.

NARRATOR: Basically,
this was a recipe for some
Old Testament retribution,

Fast And Furious s tyle.

Mixed in with that, to get
the help he needs to do it,

he's got to link-up
with another character...

I'm Mr. Nobody.

NARRATOR: ...played by
the incomparable...

Kurt Russell.

First movie where we're
gonna have dual Police
working together...

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, The Rock
was returning for Fast Seven,

and would face his rival
if not completely
on his own terms.

Dwayne Johnson didn't know
that if he was gonna be
able to be involved,

until late, because
he was on Hercules.

NARRATOR: Dwayne Johnson
was able to take a break
from flipping horses

to fiercely flipping
Deckard Shaw
with a clever rewrite.

He has the big fight with Shaw,

and then is in the hospital
for quite a bit of the movie,

until towards the end.

I think that was well-played
as far as getting him back.

It's kinda like a soap opera--

NARRATOR: And every soap opera
needs a good girl fight.

But how could producers
possibly top

the Gina Carano,
Michelle Rodriguez fight
from Fast Six?

How can you go one step bigger?

You bring in Ronda Rousey...

[GRUNTING]

...coming right off the peak
of when Ronda Rousey

was the biggest thing
fighting had ever maybe seen.

NARRATOR: The champion
fighter proved she can do it
in eveningwear,

which really added
to this woman's workload.

I was the supervising
art director

You always try to create
dynamic spaces,

so the actors
and the stunt people

have something to interact with.

We had like a little corridor
with columns in it,

so they could
play off of those.

And furniture, and things
that can break.

It's like, what element
can they crash through?

NARRATOR: And while the ladies
were busy falling
through the air,

the stunt team was trying
to figure out if they
could do the same.

It was kind of, "Can you do it?"
first off,

and "can you do multiple cars?"
was the second question.

NARRATOR: The answer was yes.

So the crew took to the skies
locked and loaded

and ready for almost anything.

Cars were all loaded,
and we were getting up
to altitude.

All of a sudden,
there's a pretty pungent
smell of fuel.

We hear over from the pilot,

"Yeah, I'm losing a lot of fuel
out of one of my engines,

"and I'm wondering
where it's going."

That was scary.

And now, we're looking
for parachutes!

NARRATOR: But thanks to
some quick thinking,

a major catastrophe
was averted.

He shut all the fuel off,
and it went away.

But for a while there,
it was a little hectic.

NARRATOR: But maybe
not as hectic

as dropping ten real cars
out of a plane.

That part of the process took us
about three weeks to figure out.

NARRATOR: And what they
figured out was,

"Let's throw everything
we've got at this."

We had a helicopter shooting,
we had cameras down below,

we had cameras mounted on there,
we had sky divers.

NARRATOR: Only to realize
it wasn't enough.

We found out that
the photographers
with helmet cameras on,

couldn't stay with the cars,

'cause the cars fall faster
than our photographers can

'because they're much heavier.

NARRATOR: The gravity
of the situation
was not lost on anyone.

But the simple solution
was to tap the brakes a little.

So then, we put drogue chutes

which are little
mini parachutes,

that slow the car down,

so that the photographers
could then shoot the cars

all around each other
and fly at the same speed.

And then once we got
all the problems figured out...

NARRATOR: New problems emerged,
as the cars wouldn't
stop spinning!

So, we had to put plates
on the bottom of the car,

that keep the wind from
sucking up inside
the fender well

to making it do this
all the time.

We finally got it all together,
we tossed them all out,

they all flew down together.

It worked exactly like
what was written in the script.

Whoo! Now we're moving.

NARRATOR: But as difficult
as it was to jump,

it was just as hard
to find a place to land.

I knew that Colorado
had great locations

and I wanted to shoot it there.

Pikes Peak's massive
14,000-foot elevation

made it a good choice

to double for the majestic
Caucasus Mountains

that Dom and his team
had to land on.

But the studio
saw it differently.

And I remember
we're in a meeting
before the movie started

with all the top people.

And they said that we're
getting a rebate there.

We'll shoot in Atlanta.

The reason we work
a lot in Atlanta,

because they have
a very serious rebate
and tax incentive.

So, they're very much pushing
us to always stay in Atlanta.

-NARRATOR: And so...
-I had to go all over Atlanta

to look for roads!

NARRATOR: Problem is,

with an elevation of only
a measly 700 feet...

There were no mountain roads.

NARRATOR: Fearing that
the sequence would
literally fall flat...

Gonna look bad.

...Spiro put his foot down.

I said please, Neal Moritz.
Please trust me on this.

NARRATOR: And after
some consideration...

And he backed me up and said
we're gonna let Spiro do it.

NARRATOR: And although Spiro
had to fight for his mountains,

at least Bill had
an easier time
scouting Dubai

from his hotel window.

Right across the street
literally, were these
beautiful three buildings,

and they're all a little bit
different height.

And I said we should
just do it right there!

NARRATOR: By "it,"
he meant driving
a three-million-dollar car

out of one building
and into another.

And while they wanted
to do it for real...

Obviously, it was a lot of help
from visual effects.

NARRATOR: For obvious reasons.

But we did build,
on the Atlanta backlot,

windows that were up
like very high in the air,

and we crashed cars
through them.

SPIRO: All that was real.
The only part that
wasn't real, of course,

was the jump in the middle,
for the wide shots.

Took a lot of great people,
a lot of timing,
and it paid off.

NARRATOR: With just one movie,

James Wan had taken
The Fast And The Furious
to new heights.

We were able to collaborate
and do a really really
cool movie together.

NARRATOR: But something no one
planned for was about to
rewrite the script.

and changeThe Fast
And The Furious story forever.

I remember, my phone
started blowing up.

It was like,
Paul Walker's dead.

NARRATOR: In November of 2013,
halfway through the shooting
onFast Seven,

The Fast And The Furious
family suffered a loss

that threatened
to end the franchise.

We were in a small editing bay.

And Justin, suddenly he gets
summoned out of the room,

and we just heard him
in the other room like,
exclaiming, "What?"

And it was loud,
and it was intense.

Justin comes into the room,
and he's just ashen.

And he tells us the news,

"Paul died."

And we were all just
obviously in a state of shock.

NEWS REPORTER:
Fast And The Furious star
Paul Walker and his friend,

killed in a fiery car accident
over the weekend.

He was riding shotgun,
and someone else crashed,
and killed him.

NEWS REPORTER: Walker was
a passenger in a Porsche

that collided with a pole
and caught fire.

The actor had been attending
his charity event

to benefit typhoon victims
in the Philippines.

He actually um...

crashed right near
where my kid's school was.

And I go back there...

once in a while.

Yeah, that was hard.

Sorry.

Uh... I got the call
15 minutes after it happened.

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

It was kind of
a sad thing.

NARRATOR: An investigation
found excessive speed

and worn tires were to blame.

My first reaction was,
that was stupid.

You know, they're just
fucking around.

What was that guy thinking?

CRAIG: You take out a car
with cold tires,
with expired tires

and you're out there
on a street with
an unprepared surface?

Totally irresponsible,
in my opinion.

KIM: Yes, I understand
you're doing a movie

that's about race driving.

Well, this is not a movie!

So, I was thinking about him
that day.

I was getting ready to go out
and ride on my motorcycle.

Fast And Furious was coming
on the TV as I was leaving.

So, I'm thinking about Paul
while I'm out riding.

I get back home,
and my phone is blowing up.

And this friend of mine,
she says,

"Is it true that Paul Walker
is dead?" and I'm like,
"Now, what?"

I was just...
I was flabbergasted,

and brokenhearted
'cause he's such a sweetheart.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
production ground
to an immediate halt.

People involved
in the Fastfranchise,

they'd been together
for 14 years.

So, it's a very close
little family.

That was a gut-punch.

It was hard for me.

I was devastated.
I was just stunned.

RICARDO: No one expects
someone that young...

when something
like this happens.

LEIGH: We've all looked
at him for so long.

You feel like you know him.
So, it's sad!

It hit us hard.

Vin and Tyrese
and a lot of others
went over to the crash site,

going there to mourn him.

I love Paul Walker.
I miss him every day.

Paul was one of those
special guys

that you can't help
but care about him.

He really put everything
into his work,

he was a very sweet man,

he had no ego about
what he was doing.

I had been around
movie stars before,

but Paul was different.

He's always doing
something for other people

that need help.

He's always got a smile,
he's always there.

If Rob, the director,
was giving me a little bit
of [GRUNTS] you know,

if he was biting on me
to do better,

Paul would be like,

"Hey man, shake it off.
It's okay."
You know what I mean?

He was just that guy.

He was an angel.

I really believe he was just
such a wonderful human being,

and I honestly can say,

I think my most fond memories
of shooting that movie,

were with Paul. 100 percent.

He was the next Steve McQueen,

without all the baggage,
without all the shit.

Paul's a hell of a driver.

God bless you, Paul.
He's a neat guy.

DEBBIE: He didn't walk around
with an entourage

People would be like,
"Oh, that's Paul Walker!"

And then, within five minutes,
he was just one of the guys.

[CHUCKLES]

It's a hard thing.
It's a hard subject.

[CHOKING] Very hard.

Because he became
a great friend of mine.

We went surfing in Hawaii,
I was at a couple
of weddings with him.

Just an amazing guy.

It's hard.

DOUG: I remember,
my son was a young guy

and Paul heard that he was
learning how to surf.

And he had bought him
a surfboard!

It was so thoughtful
of him and so sweet.

LEIGH: He was
in a jewelry store,
I think in Santa Barbara.

He's seeing this young couple
trying to figure out

how they can buy
an engagement ring.

He goes over to the owner,
and says, "I'll pay for it,"

unbeknownst to them.

He walks out, and then,
they have the ring!

[VOICE SHAKING] I mean just...

Really amazing stories
like that... So it was sad.

NARRATOR: Aside from
the personal loss,

producers were now facing
their worst nightmare.

A filmmaking challenge
as complicated as it was
ethically fraught.

Obviously, he was
an integral part

of all of these movies.

I wondered, well,
what are they gonna do now?

What does the studio do
with a film that you're
halfway through making?

The business side
of it comes in,

because even in death,
there is a business element.

NARRATOR: Universal faced
an unfortunate choice,

between two dreadful options.

Find a way to finish the film,
with all its question marks,

or pull the pin on Fast Seven,
and end the franchise for good.

And then, to try to
champion everyone,

to put on their game face,
and show up on set,

and ask, "Do you wanna finish?"

NARRATOR: Following
Paul Walker's untimely death,

Universal Studios
had to decide if the show
would go on.

You know, what would
he have done?

I don't know if anyone knows,

but I think that he would've
wanted it to be finished.

I think the initial thought
was like no, like,
you can't, like...

How would we even do that?
That would be inconsiderate

even to Paul's memory,
even to finish this.

Nobody knew what
was gonna happen,

or how it was gonna happen.

NARRATOR: Universal announced
the decision to finish
Fast Seven,

vowing the film would be
a tribute to Paul.

I think they all
sat down in a room,

and they all thought,
"Look, whatever it costs us,

"this is what we're gonna do."

'Cause it's the right
thing to do.

We wanna finish this movie,
we wanna honor Paul,

'cause Paul loved the franchise.

PETER: That was something
everybody could rally behind.

Let's figure out how to
be true to his legacy.

NARRATOR: That left
one important question.

How do we do that
in the best way?

NARRATOR: A rewrite
was ordered.

But with only a portion
of Paul's scenes shot,

some visual effects wizardry
would be needed

to fill in the missing footage.

We were missing him in the car.

Like, usually, that gets put
to the end for green screen.

And so, we were lacking
all of those things.

NARRATOR: To give
the writers time,

the studio pushed Fast Seven's
release nearly a year back,
to 2015. Meanwhile...

Post-production kept working.

We only took a small break.

We used the time to go back,
and cull through
all the footage.

B-roll, anything.
Literally anything
that we have,

to see if there was anything
that could be repurposed
in any way.

NARRATOR: Combing through
12 years of
Fast And Furious footage,

editors amassed
every piece of the puzzle

as shooting restarted.

You know, we all came together
that first day on stage,

just to talk about it.

and know that everybody
is there for everybody.

So, it was a very...

It was a coming together
of a family really,

just to talk about that.

And so, it set the tone
for the rest of the movie,

to just be a good sort of
supportive, positive process.

Tyrese said a prayer
before everybody started.

To be on set,
and him not being there,

it was very strange.

They had to reconfigure
a few scenes.

So, some scenes
were written for Paul

and I just remember thinking,

how are we getting new scenes
for Paul's character

when he's not...
we don't have Paul?

NARRATOR: The producers
did have one option

that could
make it all possible.
But this was a big ask.

His two brothers were amazing.

Caleb and Cody,
and they stepped in.

We had to do a lot of stuff
with his brother

and do face replacement.

All of that just made
the process so much easier,

when the family was present

and supportive
of what we were doing.

LEIGH: Cody had done
some days as a stunt performer,

and so, he was familiar
with how set life was.

And so, he had some scenes
that he was used for,

and then, Caleb was used
for some other scenes.

But it was tough
to get going each time,

because he knew that his brother
should be there, and he should
be there with him.

LEIGH: They did
such an amazing job.

I can't even imagine,
being so fresh
from the accident,

and from the emotional turmoil
that they're going through...

NARRATOR: For wide shots,
the producers effectively
had two body-doubles.

But close-ups would require
some state-of-the-art magic.

New Zealand
visual effects house,
Weta, was drafted

to digitally conjure
Paul Walker's
final performance.

We knew that Weta
was going to try to,

you know, replicate his face.

NARRATOR: It would ultimately
require 350 visual effects.

That technology, I think,
is what helped them
finish the movie.

NARRATOR: But for several
pivotal moments,

scenes were able to be
repurposed from earlier
Fast films.

He's sitting down,
and she walks up to him,

It's repurposed fromFive.

It's from when
they're in Brazil.

And also, the phone call
with Mia that takes place
in this movie

is in part, from Fast Five.

LEIGH: They just rewrote
her lines, and then,

we were able to keep
Paul Walker's
original performance.

You understand?

And so, that scene
worked out really well.

That scene mattered so so much
to the movie,

and was such a pivotal,
emotional moment.

And you get to that scene
about two-thirds
of the way through,

and you have essentially
Brian saying goodbye to Mia,

saying goodbye
to his wife and child,

[BRIAN SIGHS]

Every fan has the same thought
of we're about to watch him die.

They're obviously
gonna kill him.

Love you, Brian.

NARRATOR: But no one
would be prepared
for the real ending.

No one knew. They kept it
a complete secret coming in,

like what was gonna happen.

NARRATOR: For Paul Walker's
final scene,

only the most deft of
post-production alchemy

would make it work.

We knew that sound-wise,
we might have to
create sentences

that had never been
spoken before.

And so, there was six months
of gathering every word

that Paul had ever spoken
in any film,

and making a big
database of that.

NARRATOR: All of it
needed, to allow Paul
a means

to bid farewell.

I think the hardest one
that ever came up,

was that last line in the film.

BRIAN: Hey! Thought you could
leave without saying goodbye?

He didn't say that, you know?

That was something
that had to be created.

It was not easy.

NARRATOR: But it was crucial.

Universal's most senior
executives wanted to be assured

Paul had the last word.

PETER: That was something
that... [CHUCKLES]

All the brass showed up

to see how the ending
of the film was.

It was just something that
was not going to be
left to chance.

DOM: [THINKING]
You'll always be my brother.

NARRATOR: The filmmakers
had done all they could.

But would this carefully
composed swan song

be the end of the road?

Furious Seven opened
April third of 2015.

LEIGH: There was
a lot of hype,
there was a lot of pressure.

I mean, obviously,
there's a lot of...

expectation for any
of the Fastmovies,

but it was heightened
by the fact

that Paul Walker had passed.

NARRATOR: The last
Paul Walker film

was also the first
of the post-Paul Walker era.

And Universal knew
this was a turning point.

They were terribly worried.

You walk into that theater,

not knowing what
they're gonna do,

are they gonna kill off Brian...

"I can't even
imagine what this
is gonna be..."

MIA: Come back to us.

I won't let you down, Mia.

No!

JACOB: The end of the movie,

And instead of Brian
almost dying,

it's Dom almost dying,

him coming back
to life before our eyes.

NARRATOR: But there was
only one thing fans
really needed to see.

BRIAN: Yeah, buddy!

It transitions
into this final scene.

They're on the beach,
and this beautiful send-off.

A resoectful send-off
to the actor,

the friend, the cast member...

-Duty calls.
-BRIAN: It does.

MIA: Come on!

Let's get mama!

LEIGH: And then,
as the character,

it was like the moment
where the team knows
that Mia and Brian

need to live their life.

They can no longer be part

of whatever shenanigans
are gonna come next.

Beautiful.

That's where he belongs.

Home.

[VOICE QUIVERING]
It's saying goodbye.

["SEE YOU AGAIN" BY CHARLIE PUTH
AND WIZ KHALIFA PLAYING]

It's never goodbye.

And then the song... Hmph!

Roll the waterworks.

♪ It's been a long day

♪ Without you, my friend

♪ And I'll tell you
all about it

♪ When I see you again

That was pretty emotional
and everybody had a tear
in their eye.

That was wonderful, yeah.

That was great.

I was on the Universal lot
when I watched it, so...

It was about six of us
in the theater,

and I mean...

I just thank God
they didn't turn the lights on

when the movie ended.

They just kinda knew,
leave the lights off,

and just let them
get it all out.

And I think that James
really handled that well,

and did a beautiful ending.

TYRESE: He's a very,
very talented guy.

And I'm just definitely
proud of him

for sending my brother,
Paul Walker off

with such a beautiful send-off.

It was literally poetic...
poetic justice.

The tribute they gave him
at the end of the movie,

was to me, just...
I cry every time I see it.

Wanna go for a drive?

Just trying to make it
as respectful for Paul Walker

and his family, his daughter.

It was important for us
to get that right.

I was proud of the ending
because that's really Paul,

when he's driving off.

His brother was the double,

but we were able to make
the last shot really be Paul,

which was great.

It's the send-off you want.

I thought everybody stepped up
and did a miraculous job.

probably because of how great
a guy Paul was.

The family, from what
they said to us,

and from what we experienced,

were really happy
with the way it turned out.

And that was important.

NARRATOR: The Fast
And The Furious family

had pulled off the impossible.

crafting a rarely-seen
artefact,

the movie that is
also a memorial.

Felt like it was, you know,
an impossible job well done.

Paul deserved it,
and he got a special one.

So, thank you, Fast,
for giving him a good goodbye.

NARRATOR: It had helped
realize an actor's legacy.

He is the center of the film.

And he's always been
the center of the film.

And will always be
the center of the film.

We were doing ADR,
and I asked him,

if he would sign a poster
for the girls.

It's been hanging
in my daughter's room.

Just...

[EXHALES SHARPLY] It's tough.

But I look at this every day.

He's just a good man.

This is the movie
that kinda closes the loop

on this version of the family...

NARRATOR: But that begged
the question,

what would be the legacy
of the franchise?

I thought that maybe
they were gonna end it
at that time, and...

which would've been
a beautiful way to end
the franchise...

DEREK: So I think there was
definitely some hesitation,
but they also realized

that they could continue
kinda doing this
in Paul's memory.

NARRATOR: Elevated by
a fandom's need for closure,

Paul Walker's final film
was a triumph,

grossing $1.5 billion worldwide

from a budget of $190 million.

With one era ending,
the franchise had come

to another fork in the road.

For Universal,
it was now obvious

which direction to take.

[MUSIC PLAYING]