Anna Daniels
Vin Diesel, the same man who suggested that 2015’s Furious 7 would “probably win Best Picture” at the Oscars (…it didn’t), sincerely believes the ending of that film is “the best moment in cinematic history.” Watch him get emotional in an interview talking about returning to that movie’s production after co-star Paul Walker died, and listen to him make the case that the film’s closing moments are better than anything that has ever been committed to celluloid before or since.
Speaking with NME (via The Playlist) during the press junket for his new action movie Bloodshot, Diesel talks about the difficult decision to come back to filming Furious 7 after Paul Walker died in a car accident, and how he thinks the movie’s ending holds up as the greatest thing ever filmed.
.@VinDiesel says the final Paul Walker scene in #Furious7 is “the greatest moment in cinematic history”??#Bloodshot #VinDiesel #FastAndFurious pic.twitter.com/fNkYaBNQVF
— NME (@NME) March 12, 2020
“I was so reluctant to go back to filming. I just felt like the studio was asking me to go back to a funeral, and I was so, so, so, so, so broken by it. But I didn’t want anyone to use the tragedy as a story plot. It was so important to me…It was a very, very tough moment. But there was some solace in the fact that we were able to protect from the natural whim of a producer or anyone to say, ‘Well now you’re going to go avenge the character,’ and use it as a plot and we were able to do something so beautiful and so classy. It might be the best moment in cinematic history – not just in my career but in cinematic history. Men around the world were allowed to — everyone was able to cry — but men around the planet, for the first time in history, were able to cry together.”
I don’t want to turn this into an article that makes fun of Vin Diesel, because he clearly went through an awful tragedy and if you watch him give this response, it seems like he genuinely believes what he’s saying. Plus, I really, really love Furious 7. And while I appreciate the sentiment behind his statement – that allowing people (especially men) to cry in a theater is a good thing, and breaking down societal barriers like that can cathartically bring people together – it’s just not true that Furious 7 marked the first time in history where men openly cried in a movie theater. Has my dude ever seen The Shawshank Redemption? Brian’s Song? Field of Dreams? Dead Poets Society? Big Fish? Or how about Saving Private Ryan, which Diesel himself was in? I’m sure some people even teared up at the end of Guardians of Galaxy when the Diesel-voiced Groot sacrifices himself. You get the picture. And putting all that aside, I’d argue that there are a dozen moments in the Fast & Furious franchise alone that top the ending on the list of best cinematic moments.
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely cried at the end of Furious 7. I just think Diesel’s characterization may be slightly off in this instance.
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