Paul Walker’s tragic death in a car crash last Thanksgiving left millions of fans in mourning, but the loss of one of the stars of Fast And Furious 7 also left producers floundering for ways to complete the movie in a way that both made sense and was respectful to the character. Vin Diesel, who starred with Walker in several of the films in the series, says that while he and his co-stars were devastated by Walker’s death, the accident also brought them all together.

“The good thing is, because we took all the time, the movie is a true testament to everyone coming together and wanting to honor both the saga and our brother, and there’s something very beautiful about that,” he said.

Ultimately, producers decided to put stand-ins in place of Walker’s character for the unfinished scenes, which made it difficult for some of the actors. Knowing his friend was supposed to be beside him and turning to find someone else in his place was jarring, Vin Diesel said.

“It was, needless to say, the hardest movie I’ve ever done. I remember when the tragedy happened, my mother said to me, ‘It’s not fair that you have to mourn in front of the world.’ What’s even harder is to mourn and simultaneously that the person is next to you, so every time you turn to whoever’s sitting in that chair you see not Paul,” he said.

The actors who stood in for Walker were actually his brothers, Cody and Caleb, who celebrated with Tyrese Gibson recently when the film wrapped.

“Emotional and bittersweet….. In the end you always got #Family,” Tyrese wrote in an Instagram caption.

Fast And Furious 7 will be released on April 3, 2015.

Image via Wikimedia Commons