For Jordana Brewster, celebrating 25 years of Fast & Furious with a special screening at Cannes has been both a festive and a poignant experience, given the absence of Paul Walker, who played Brian O’Conner in the franchise until he tragically passed away in 2013.
“There was this huge contrast between arriving, and there was so much fanfare, and the steps are so iconic, so there was this high, and then it was also very bittersweet, because you see Paul again, and you remember,” Brewster said in an interview at Deadline’s Cannes studio.
Walker’s daughter Meadow was also with the cast at the screening on Wednesday night. “Meadow was next to me,” Brewster said, “and I felt very protective of her, so it was very bittersweet, but I think it’s important that he’s always present somehow.”
Neal H. Moritz, Dame Donna Langley, Michelle Rodriguez, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster and Meadow Walker at ‘The Fast And The Furious’ special screening at Cannes.
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Recalling some stand-out memories of working on the franchise, Brewster said, “Shooting in Puerto Rico, I tore my hand open, but I knew that Paul was such a badass with stunts, and he would do everything himself, so I was like, ‘I need to keep it together, and I’m not getting stitches until we’re done with this scene.’ So I kind of earned my stripes.”
Were all the guys impressed that she managed to get through that scene?
“Paul was. That’s all that mattered,” she said.
Fast Forever, the last movie in the series, will premiere in 2028 and Brewster said she “would love to see sort of a call back to the first one. I’m biased. I really love the first one, and I really love the fifth one.”
The cast of ‘The Fast and the Furious’, from left: Matt Schulze, Michelle Rodriguez, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Johnny Strong (rear), Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune and Chad Lindberg.
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
She expressed a love for the lack of special effects in the first film. “The stunts are very practical. There’s less special effects, it’s just less grand,” she said, “and I think that’s what the audience is drawn to, and I kind of think that’s what we owe our fans… I know nothing about the plot, so I couldn’t even give away anything if I wanted to, but I’m dying to read the script.”
She also said she’d love to see the film shoot in Los Angeles. “I really think it should be in LA. LA was a character in the first one, and again, it’s going back to all the different cultures within LA, and [director] Rob [Cohen] shot LA so beautifully, so hopefully it’s set in LA as well.”
To see the full interview, click on the video above.
The Deadline Studio at Cannes is sponsored by SCAD.
