Entertainment
Vin Diesel believes John Cena’s Fast 9 casting was down to Paul Walker as late star makes cameo in F9 trailer
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The new trailer for Fast & Furious 9 has arrived, featuring Vin Diesel, John Cena and a brief cameo from the late Paul Walker.
F9’s latest trailer sees Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) looking wistfully at a photo of Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) while talking about ‘moments that separate us’ as the world continues to change.
John’s character Jakob is introduced as Dominic’s ‘little’ brother who also happens to be his arch-nemesis – and the casting was all down to the late Paul.
Vin opened up about how the character was brought into the franchise and how he believes Paul, who died in a car crash at the age of 40 in 2013, had a hand in making it happen.
He explained to PA: ‘Justin [Lin, the director] and I both have brothers and all of us have brothers. And that interesting dynamic of what your brotherly love is, and how complex it can be at times, makes for great storytelling.
‘But I remember, once we started getting closer to production, Justin would talk about how harrowing it would be, to actually have to cast a new Toretto, the brother of Toretto – there’s so many different directions you can go.
‘And I remember John Cena coming into this Dom shrine that I had, where I would kind of go meditate and train and start getting into that Dom state of mind.
‘I remember John coming in, and, call this crazy, but I remember feeling as though Pablo, Paul Walker, had sent him in.
‘I remember talking to Justin that night and saying “My gut and my heart feels like this was meant to be.”’
John added that he felt the weight of the responsibility of joining the Fast & Furious franchise as the lead character’s brother.
He explained: ‘I certainly didn’t overlook the responsibility, the opportunity as well. I get to reap the rewards of this family who has poured the foundation and built the structure of global delivering blockbuster.
‘And I get invited into the ninth instalment to share the last name Toretto to be Don’s greatest adversary of all time, that that is not lost. And I think it has to start there, it has to start with respect.’
Fast & Furious 9 will be released in UK cinemas on July 8.
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MORE : Vin Diesel makes it family affair in Fast and Furious 9 as son plays young Dominic Toretto
