Vin Diesel Cries Remembering Paul Walker at ‘The Fast and the Furious’ Cannes Midnight Screening: ‘I Pray That in Your Life You Have a Brother Like Paul’

Vin Diesel couldn’t help but shed a few tears as the credits rolled on the special midnight screening of “The Fast and the Furious” at Cannes.

It was enough to process that the festival considered the high-octane street racing movie a “classic” after 25 years. But the emotion was heightened by seeing his bond with his late co-star, Paul Walker, play out on the big screen.

“I pray that in your life, you can have a brother like Paul,” Diesel said, after taking a moment to compose himself before addressing the sold-out crowd inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre.

Related Stories

Savannah Guthrie's 'Wordle' Game Show Greenlit at NBC

'Chicago Fire' Showrunner Andrea Newman Steps Down, Victor Teran to Take Helm of Season 15

Of course, Diesel wasn’t alone in his emotion — fellow “Fast” stars Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez and Walker’s 27-year-old daughter, Meadow, all wiped tears away as the well-heeled audience honored them with a four-minute standing ovation.

“It’s so hard for me to watch it because there’s so many moments in this movie that you see, that I see differently,” Diesel added. “The scene that you see, I see the moment Pablo told me he had a one-year-old daughter.”

Diesel concluded his teary remarks by pulling Meadow in to hug him while he shared something she’d told him earlier in the day. “She said, ‘I’m 27, and I’m watching this film that my father made at 27,’ and I thought, ‘How profound,'” Diesel said. “Meadow has been such a source of strength, and I know he’d be so proud of you.”

It 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 — wearing a diamond-encrusted blazer with the “Fast Forever” logo embroidered on the back, signaling the long-running franchise’s end — worked the crowd gathered on the Croisette before the crew made their way inside the packed theater.

Before the screening began, Diesel took the mic and showed some love to Cannes director Thierry Frémaux. “Thierry, where did you get everyone?” Diesel joked. “I’ve never seen a midnight screening like this in my whole life. Thierry, it’s not like this movie hasn’t been out for a minute.”

Being selected to screen at Cannes was particularly poignant, Diesel explained. “[Thierry] said something to me earlier today at lunch, something I’ll never forget. You said to me, ‘Vin, you came here 31 years ago as a director, writer and actor of a short film [1995’s “Multi-Facial”]. When you came, you had a laundry bag as a suitcase. No one in the world knew you.’ You said, ‘The reason why it’s so special that you’re here now is because, in my mind, you, Vin, were born in Cannes.”

The crowd was extremely warm to Diesel, who received shouts of “we love you” 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 — it was nearly 12:30 a.m. by this point, after all — joking, “Fuck the film. I’m only here once in my whole life.”

He also gave a special shoutout to Meadow for joining him at the screening in honor of her father. “This is a film where brotherhood was introduced to our millennium, by myself and my brother Pablo,” Diesel continued. “And the person that was not going to let me come alone here to represent that brotherhood is Meadow Walker.

Then, Diesel, turned his attention to the franchise’s fans. “I’m gonna go and shed a tear real quick, but 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,” he said. “Each 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’re gonna watch tonight is the beginning of one word, and that word is love. I love you all.”

Released on June 22, 2001, “The Fast and the Furious” launched Universal Pictures’ longest-running and most profitable movie franchise: the series spans 11 feature films — 10 “Fast” movies and the spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw — 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 “Fast” franchise would evolve into some of Hollywood’s most expensive movies ever, with 2023’s “Fast X” costing more than $300 million to produce. 2015’s “Furious 7” and 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious” both crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.

The expected final “Fast” movie, titled “Fast Forever,” is expected to conclude the quarter-century saga of Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his crew of street racers-turned-skilled government assets. Variety reported in March that Michael Lesslie had boarded the film as screenwriter, with director Louis Leterrier set to return after joining the franchise for “Fast X.” Universal has dated the film for theatrical release on March 17, 2028

“25 years. Eight directors. Countless writers, crew members, performers, each one giving something real to a saga that has outlasted trends, cynics, and time itself,” Diesel wrote on Instagram at the time. “That doesn’t happen by accident… It happens because people show up and pour themselves into something bigger than any one individual.”