“This right here takes crazy to a whole ‘nother level,” says Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) in Furious 7, the final installment in the wildly successful, muscle car-crazed film franchise. And judging by the recently released full-length trailer, we here at E3 Spark Plugs agree.
Set for theatrical release April 3, Furious 7 stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson and – playing Ian Shaw, the angry villain obsessively bent on revenge – Jason Statham. It centers on Shaw’s bloodlust for revenge against Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his crew for the death of his brother, Owen, a former British Special Forces soldier-turned-mercenary killed by Toretto at the end of Fast and Furious 6.
Furious 7 also stars the late Paul Walker, who was killed in a car crash November 2013 after attending a fundraising event for his Reach Out Worldwide charity. At the time, Walker’s dramatic scenes had been shot, but several action sequences were unfinished. So, once producers did a bit of soul searching and concluded that Walker would have wanted production to continue, they turned to his brothers, Caleb and Cody and to CGI magic-maker Peter Jackson. His digital-effects company, Weta Digital, used pioneering CGI effects to help recreate several of Walker’s scenes using his brothers, both of whom bear striking resemblances to the late actor. Producers also took advantage of some unused footage with Walker from previous Fast & Furious films for a number of scenes.
“Having them on set has made us all feel that Paul is with us, too,” producers wrote in a post on the film’s Facebook page this past April. “This film is the most important we’ve ever done together. It will allow the character of Brian O’Conner to live on and let us celebrate Paul in his most defining role.”
What do you think of the latest Furious 7 trailer? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page.
