Paul Walker passed away in a tragic car accident in November of 2013, in the middle of production on Furious 7. Since then, his friends and family have paid tribute to him in many ways, but one tribute is still going strong after tearing up the Billboard charts for six weeks straight.
Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s song “See You Again” was written for Walker and is featured on the movie’s soundtrack, which has proven to be almost as successful as the film itself. Khalifa performed the song at the Billboard Music Awards last month, which had an emotional impact on the audience; while some time has passed since Walker’s death, the pain hasn’t faded much for fans and for those who worked with him. Director James Wan said in April that coming to terms with the news of Walker’s death–especially as it came over the Thanksgiving holidays–was a hugely difficult thing for everyone involved in the production.
“When I first heard the news, I was shell-shocked like everyone, and it took me days to come to terms with it. And then after that, heartbreaks started sinking in and we realized that Paul wasn’t going to be around with us anymore moving forward. And it was a really hard one. And finishing the movie was the last thing on my mind at that point. It was more the idea of you know, picking up the pieces, going back on set, you know rallying the team, the cast, and the crew, and as the director having to put on the brave face and sort of like champion and push everyone along, the idea of that was very daunting for me. But it became very apparent to all of us that we needed to finish this movie to honor Paul’s legacy and to basically honor his memories, and moving forward that became our number one goal. Like nothing else mattered, it was about making this movie for Paul,” Wan said.
Paul Walker’s brothers, Cody and Caleb, are also working hard to keep his legacy alive. Cody has taken over operations for Reach Out Worldwide, a charity organization started by Paul, and both brothers appeared in Furious 7 as stand-ins for Walker after his death. Cody told E! News last year that some of the things he learned from Paul would stay with him forever.
“Just live your life to the fullest. Laugh a lot, love and find your true happiness. Remember that no matter how cool you think you may be, you’re not cool enough to look down on anyone…ever. I am so lucky to have had him as a big brother.”
