‘Fast & Furious 7’ wraps with special letter to fans

MANILA, Philippines – It’s a wrap for Fast & Furious 7, and it seems like the end is bittersweet for the cast and crew, who lost the film’s star Paul Walker in a car accident in 2013.  

Paul’s brothers, Cody and Caleb, joined the cast to fill in scenes that Paul had yet to complete, though the deceased actor had already filmed parts of the movie when he died. 

One of the film’s stars, Michelle Rodriguez, posted a photo of her and Vin Diesel on Instagram:

“Ride or Die through thick and thin 15 yrs later surreal to think we made it through such a tough painful production. But this ones for you P I hope we make you proud love you,” she wrote. 

The last scene was shot on July 11. To commemmorate the last day of filming, a post from the official Facebook page of the Fast & Furious movie spoke to fans about the film’s journey, thanking them for their loyalty and love. 

Below is the letter in full, as seen in the press release:

“We made it.

Today we completed the last shot in the production of FAST & FURIOUS 7.

We wanted to take this moment to express how thankful we are for your support. We felt the love and strength from our fans throughout this journey, and it’s because of you that we got here.

There was a time when we didn’t know how we could go on, or even if we should. But we listened to you, and you inspired us not only to keep going but to try and make the best FAST & FURIOUS movie yet.

Our FAST family has been together for almost fifteen years now and has grown a lot in that time. From the start, Vin has been our leader who feels what’s right for FAST in his gut and in his heart. When we had to stop production last year, Vin gathered us back together and moved us forward when we needed it most. He led us to this day.

Some of us have been here from the very beginning. Vin, Michelle, Jordana and our producer Neal all go back to that first little movie we shot on the streets of LA. We came back to LA in FAST 7, and it was an especially emotional homecoming for those who’ve grown up with each other since that first shoot.

There are those we count as brothers who we gathered along the way and are with us again: Dwayne, Tyrese, Luda, Lucas and our writer, Chris. We’ve got some new additions this time in Jason, Kurt, Djimon, Nathalie and our director, James. Caleb and Cody joined us to honor their brother and help complete his work.

Our family is big and strong but it won’t ever quite be whole again without Paul.

All of us – those who’ve been here from the start and those whose first FAST film is 7 – wanted to create a special film for him and for you. We believe we have.

Thank you for being there for us. You are the biggest part of our family, and we couldn’t have gotten here without you.

The countdown to April 4 begins.

With love,

Your FAST & FURIOUS Family”

– Rappler.com