Russell says that in the wake of Paul Walker's tragic death last November, everything about the rest of the production is in flux: "I've been told April, maybe May, maybe Dubai, maybe Atlanta, maybe LA."
The 7th film will see Jason Statham's Ian Shaw character out for revenge against Dominic and Brian (Vin Diesel and Walker).
Russell's role is that of the father of Chad Lindberg's Jesse from the first film. Jesse was shot in a drive-by shooting moments after pleading with Dominic to help protect him. The role in the seventh film is only supposed to be a small one ahead of a much larger appearance in the next film. Asked if he'd still be a part of an eighth film, Russell says that is also up in the air following the death of Walker:
"That's going to be interesting, because the character has been purposely been treated in a certain way so that he can or can't. The 'can' will be an interesting stretch. It works, because I understand what it is and we came up with it. It's like, 'Oh, wow! That's cool!'. If he doesn't, then he doesn't. If he gets killed, he gets killed. That will be for them to determine. I just wanted to be able to work with them making the best possible character to either be sad he doesn't move on or say, 'Yeah, I want this character to move on -- we need this character to move on.' That sort of thing. I don't know what the situation, with Paul dying, does to that. I don't know."
The role was rumored to be a father-figure to Brian:
"He's really more connected to Vin's character. The character that I play is presented as one thing, but you have a big suspicion that he's another. Vin's character is -- it's really the family around Vin that's going to be suspecting "Why is he involved with this guy?" It was always going to be Vin's character who he was a father figure to -- but he's either a good one or a bad one."
Russell was asked how something like the Fast and the Furious film franchise compares with The Expendables film series--a franchise he's been asked to join but has turned down:
"I mean, I'm glad Sly's done well with this. He's a great person. The fellas all seem to have a good time. I've never seen any of them. It's not a beat I get. It's like looking backwards to me. There's something about Fast & Furious. It has that mystery to me -- and it's for a funny audience, you know? It's for a 15 to... 30? I think now you can take that from 15 to 45, and I think that's what's interesting about that. I like the way Vin talks about it -- it's a saga. It's not a series, it's a saga."
No comments:
Post a Comment