“Furious 7was beautiful, inspirational, and painful.”
But the film will always be most remembered by the tragic circumstances surrounding it.
“OnceFurious 7came out, it was hard to watch.
Tyrese Gibson and Paul Walker in ‘2 Fast, 2 Furious’.Everett Collection
So I definitely don’t have that one on repeat.”
“I got blessed by default,” the actor admits.
“I said, ‘Man, I’ll do this s— for per diem!”
Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Vin Diesel, and Sung Kang in ‘Fast Five’.Jaimie Trueblood/Universal
“Paul really felt vulnerable after making the decision to proceed without Vin,” shares Gibson.
explains Gibson of the original thinking behind the character.
I finally came back forFive, and it was a fight, man.
Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges and Tyrese Gibson in ‘F9’.Giles Keyte/Universal
That is until tragedy struck on Nov. 30, 2013.
“The first thing all of us were struggling with was, ‘What the hell are we doing here?
What’sFast & Furiouswithout Paul?'”
So we had to become each other’s therapists.
So we made sure that we were there for each other in a real way."
Furious 7was eventually completed, ending with an emotional goodbye tribute to both Walker and his character, Brian.
Director James Wan’s film is still the highest-grossing and best-reviewedFastinstallment.
“And if anybody can express the enthusiasm of whatFast & Furiousmeans to the world, it was Paul.
It was his homage, and I think that it was just a really, really beautiful film.
For me, it’s special and it hits home just because of that.
That supersedes anything about the movie itself, the action or the plot or any of that.
None of that really mattersit’s a goodbye to Paul.
And I couldn’t have imagined a better goodbye.”
But Gibson also promises something maybe more unexpected.
“There’s going to be a level of maturity forF9that people have never experienced,” he teases.
For moreFurious 7, head over to the other half ofBINGE’s special two-part episodewith Michelle Rodriguez.
Roman:
Can somebody just walked me through what we supposed to be doing tomorrow.
Brian:
Come on Rome, this was your plan and you got to embrace it.
No, this was not my plan.
Tej:
Roman, you need some fresh air?
Because you about to get a whole of it.
Welcome back to EW’s BINGE of The Fast Saga, full transcripts of which are available on ew.com.
I’m Derek Lawrence, aka the guy who went is Dominic Toretto for two straight Halloweens.
Chanelle Furious 7, part two.
Chanelle Berlin Johnson:
I’m so already.
So take a breath, we got to dive back in.
Oh she was so incredible.
She was just moving all around, getting so excited.
She did a Thor pose, kind of, at one point.
So definitely go check that one out.
But here, you are about to listen to Tyrese Gibson, Roman Pierce himself.
Obviously, someone who’s been with this franchise since 2 Fast, and has been through it all.
But was there anything else Chanelle that you were kind of really excited to talk to Tyrese about?
I mean, honestly with both of them, Michelle, huge fan pretty much my entire life almost.
She’s so badass.
It was just a joy to talk to her.
And so that was amazing to be able to share.
It’s tough for us talking about it just as fans, so I can only imagine for them.
So we really appreciate them doing so and going to those places that I’m sure aren’t easy.
So there’s a lot of that with Tyrese.
But also I was just fascinated, we kind of got the history of Roman really throughout this episode.
And then, just the continued evolution of that character.
So there’s a lot to get into on this Tyrese episode.
So do that, but now we’ll hop into our conversation with Tyrese.
Letty:
Now, why would you trust us?
You barely know us.
Ramsey:
I know enough.
Ex-cop, military, something like that.
How you took out them guys, shows training.
Tech guy, offended by the hacker remark, naturally.
You know what I’m saying?
Man, sit your candy ass down.
We’re hungry to talk Furious 7 and thankfully Tyrese Gibson’s here to fill us up.
Tyrese welcome to our BINGE of Fast & Furious.
My man, thank you for having me.
So we’re excited to talk to you about it.
For those 10 seconds or less he’s free.
So for you, how would you summarize Furious 7 in 10 seconds.
Beautiful, inspirational, and painful.
Yeah-
That’s it right there.
People don’t know this, or maybe they do, I think it’s public knowledge.
And so I got blessed by default.
I said, “Man, I’ll do this shit for per diem.”
It was my second movie.
I did Baby Boy and I did 2 Fast 2 Furious.
And so, even back when we did part two, I never watched part one-
Wow.
And we said, “We’re going to have Roman Pearce eating everything, at all times.”
We got to get Tyrese back."
I think ultimately, what we all know is that this franchise is really about the fans.
To be honest with you, man, for one, I don’t watch the movies.
And then I don’t really watch them after that.
It’s for public consumption at that point, it belongs to you.
That makes a lot of sense.
I mean, getting into Furious 7, what do you remember being most excited about?
Obviously you guys were on a roll, and then it’s time for Furious 7.
So I remember that feeling when we did Furious 7.
And this is what’s happening."
That’s kind of what I remember about the beginning of Furious 7, pertaining to my process.
I’m sure James appreciate that.
A lot of pressure coming in after what Justin did on those first four films.
So I’m sure he was already feeling the pressure.
So I’m sure he appreciated that talk.
Do you remember reading the script?
Do you remember reading… That plane scene blew my mind, just seeing it the first time.
Well, the crazy thing is, those scripts are just so difficult to read.
I have people that read scripts for me and give me a full breakdown of the script.
… to certain things that I do and say.
It all happens impulsively and instinctively in the movie.
On this level, they party every day.
I might have to move out here.
I think I’m going to start a new culture.
It’s called Blarab.
You know, like black Arab.
Perhaps, no franchise or set of films adds new pieces like you guys do.
I mean, you were probably the first one, you know what I mean?
What’d you love about kind of throwing Statham in the mix, starting with this one.
So everything about him coming in was exciting for me, because I know him.
I think he’s a good man.
He’s funny as hell.
And we always have fun whenever we’re around each other.
And then they end up, in this franchise later, Jason joins it.
And that’s kind of… What have you liked about playing around with those two and having this really fun dynamic?
I love it, man.
Man, when are you going to see my family?
If I live in Barstow, is anybody ever going to meet my mom?
Anybody ever going to see my brothers, sisters family, and when does Roman get a little backstory?
But I think Ludacris got the girl.
I got to look at a random water bottle and find something funny in it.
And, yeah, I miss the banter.
Someone’s got to do it, better him than you, for sure.
I mean, on screen, it seems like you guys would just immediately had such a great dynamic.
Did it feel pretty instant once you guys got together and connected?
I mean, Paul really felt vulnerable after making the decision to proceed without Vin.
And then I set up John Singleton to direct 2 Fast & Furious.
It’s never going to feel like it’s about you or it’s just about him."
I got your back.
You look at it.
That reminds me of… Is that something that you guys talked about with each movie?
How do we keep this connection?
Just touching back on that?
Here’s the thing, each character in the Fast world, we call it real estate.
And you got to be clear about your message, your dialogue, and your real estate.
I would never do that.
That seems like something that’s such and such would do to such and such character.
You got to be able to watch it and monitor it and be clear about it.
That’s not your lane, that’s not your real estate.
I’m tired of blah, blah, blah."
He said, “Okay, Roman.”
“Well, I wasn’t thinking about doing that now.”
You know what I’m saying?
So it’s like, that’s what happens.
I want real estate from Vin Diesel or Dominic Toretto.
All I’m saying is, I’m tired of everybody around me making all the decisions.
This time I lead, seriously.
If I don’t start making decisions, I’m out.
Dom:
All right, Roman, what do you got?
I don’t think that that’s-
No, no, no.
That’s my job.
One of my favorite scenes of the movie, by far.
We’re taking a quick detour, but we’ll be right back with more.
Now that we’re all gassed up, we’re driving right back into the interview.
And obviously, that comes from, unfortunately, what happened with Paul.
What’s Fast & the Furious without Paul?
Are we going to come off as just a bunch of narcissists?
My trauma was immediate, but my trauma was also delayed, because I’m such a giver.
I’m such a nurturer.
Because it wasn’t that he died, it was the way he died.
It took the trauma of the loss to a whole other stratosphere.
His daughter, brothers, father, mom, Vin, and Michelle.
That makes a lot of sense.
Or just in Fast in general?
I’ve been campaigning for years now to bring Matt Damon in.
Oh, that would be good.
He’s a part of the Universal family from the Bourne franchise.
And I’ve been talking about Matt Damon forever.
He’s the one that has to say, “I’m okay with Rock and with them.”
It’s getting too expensive or whatever that might be."
And Vin will make some phone calls and kind of nudge people into finalizing their deals.
And so, he doesn’t get credit for all the work that he does behind the scenes.
And I know everybody’s on the diversity train, but Fast has been diverse for 20 years.
Just naturally built in, which has been amazing.
What would be your spinoff for Roman Pearce?
Would it be going to see the family or would it be something else?
Roman and Tej has always been the rumor, right?
That’s always been sitting out there for maybe one day.
Everybody kind of brings their elements and their real estate to the table.
We won’t have these other things to bounce off of.
Wrapping up, obviously, we’re all super excited for Fast 9.
When we finally get this movie, what should fans expect?
There is going to be some vulnerabilities that the fans have never experienced.
That’s a vulnerability and a place that you would never seen Dominic Toretto go.
You’ve never seen him feel those feelings, because his brother ain’t been around.
We call ourselves brothers, but I’m not his brother.
That’s one of the many things we’re excited about with Fast 9.
Well, again, Tyrese, thank you so much for joining us and going through Furious 7.
So I appreciate them being so open and raw with us, in looking back on Furious 7.
Chanelle, where we starting?
I mean, it’s a tough one to tackle.
What do you think Derek?
I think you agree with me on this, I think it’s everyone involved.
… any person that helped make Furious 7 has my respect forever.
The fact that they pulled this off, I still can’t believe it.
That’s, okay, now, wow, we’re impressive so far.
This is some special effects.
They used his brothers as stand-ins, but for the most part, you’re never really thinking that.
It probably is my most viewed scene in film history.
You’re just glad to see Paul.
You’re glad to see Brian.
And man, I mean, that’s Vin Diesel talking to Paul Walker.
That last scene really, right?
That’s not a Dom talking to Brian.
And it’s so much pressure, but it really lives up to it.
And it’s really beautiful and heartfelt in that way.
And they do such a beautiful job and it holds up on every rewatch too.
No, I can’t even imagine how he did that.
And to your point of you sitting there crying, I cried the first time.
Her mascara was running.
It was just, she was…
I’ve never seen her cry so much in her whole life.
And like I said, she had never seen one movie.
So literally every single person involved with Furious 7, all our respects.
There are some good ones.
So there are lines, like, would you believe I knocked them out with my charm?
You ain’t that charming bitch.
Would you believe I knocked them out with my charm?
Kara:
You ain’t that charming bitch.
The Rock of course saying, “Daddy’s got to go to work.”
“The thing about street fights, the streets always win.”
“I don’t have friends.
I have family,” classic, classic line.
Because you’re about to get a whole lot of it."
Without telling what exactly they’re about to do.
And he says, “Woman, I am the cavalry.”
Which, just plenty of lines throughout.
I don’t actually know if I have a favorite.
It’s a tough one.
I think this might be the deepest field we’ve had of this category, yet.
And just totally nails that.
And then, “I don’t have friends.
I got family.”
Again, that’s almost sums up the whole franchise right there.
So those will probably be the top two for me.
But like you said, I feel like you couldn’t go wrong with any of these.
Sorry, Roman, you are not a double alpha.
So next up we go to, which Oscars should Fast have been nominated for?
It didn’t even get nominated.
I can’t even wrap my head around that.
But the fact that it didn’t win is insane in its own right.
Not only was this perfect for the movie and for that ending.
And I can’t even imagine another song there.
This thing was a smash hit.
So it’s got everything going for it and it doesn’t even get a nomination.
I’m pretty sure, I’m not even going to look it up.
I think this might’ve been a Adele’s James Bond song, won this year, I think.
So I just don’t get it.
I don’t get it Chanelle.
What were they thinking?
This Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa just ended up being the perfect combination.
Wiz Khalifa was pretty established, but definitely not for Oscar voters.
Me and you knew who Wiz Khalifa was, but they didn’t.
So-
They hadn’t heard Black and Yellow.
So, yeah, that’s a great point by you.
You know what I mean?
I don’t really know what to say more about that.
Let’s be real."
We could go on for a long time about that, but point made.
Next up, biggest heat check.
What do you think?
I love a good heat check.
So where’s your eye at?
And yet also, so into Dom’s team, such a fan of them, also.
It’s an interesting thing.
And of course, this movie comes out the same year, I believe, as Winter Soldier.
So he is like this juxtaposition, of course, like Nick Fury in the Marvel movies, basically.
And that’s how I think of him.
He’s just the guy who knows what’s going on.
And I think it has to be Kurt Russell.
He is, basically, the white Nick Fury.
That’s really where we’ve landed with Kurt Russell.
Especially as we move forward in this franchise.
I get what you’re doing there.
I just love everything that he does.
That’s not the case for everybody in these types of films, but like he knew.
So keep giving us more, Mr. Nobody.
Maybe a little less little nobody, but definitely more big nobody.
I like when an actor, you’re able to just tell they’re having a great time.
I had a Corona with Vin Diesel and just talked about family.
He was really curious about our family and how Kate and Oliver were doing and Wyatt."
But next up, we have the, why is this person in the movie?
What’s going on?"
This one, we got a lot of contenders.
There’s a few people where we could sit there and be like, “Wait?
What’s going on here?”
Yeah, I think, well, the most hype at the time was Iggy Azalea.
Why did it happen?
Who asked her to be there?
It’s not even-
What’s up Ghost Girl?
What’s up Ghost girl?
So there’s that.
He’s just there.
He’s just there.
And that one he did talk about.
And they were like, “Hey, do you want to get in on this?”
And he was like, “Yeah, sure.”
He ends up in the movie.
That’s how that came together.
Didn’t have to happen, but who’s going to turn that down?
If anyone asked me if I wanted a cameo, I would, in the Fast movies.
But this dude has been nominated for awards, an actual Oscar nominee.
So, yeah, I mean, like I said, happy to have.
Any Oscar winners we’ll take them in Fast, just helps the brand.
Next up, the holy shit moment of the week.
They really did it.
They pulled that off."
You have the jump in Abu Dhabi, which I feel-
Insane.
And you’re just like, “Oh my God, how are you?
And now we’re essentially kind of flying cars again from skyscraper to skyscraper.
How are they going to say goodbye to him?
How are they going to write him out?
You’re like, could they kill the character?
Could that possibly happen?
Like, “Oh my gosh, I’m so glad that wasn’t it.”
So I don’t know, what do you think?
Or, “You okay?”
And then it’s so emotional and so perfect, and everybody gets that like beautiful closeup.
And then we get, obviously, the closeup car shots between Dom and Brian.
So what do you think?
What comes to mind?
Because there’s a lot to choose from, I think, in this one, which is surprising.
For most Fast movies, we wouldn’t be talking all about these big, dramatic, emotional beats.
And then for this big revelation that they are married.
That I always think of, quite a dramatic moment.
It’s a great emotional moment.
I think Mia and Brian’s last…
The phone call where Brian’s not sure he’ll survive.
Harrowing both for their relationship, but, again, for the audience, that’s another one.
There are a bunch.
What sticks out to you?
I think to me it really is the Mia and Brian phone call.
And it’s just like, man, that’s the things that you might’t even plan for.
That was something that they already had written in the script.
Because it does really…
The reference to the tuna sandwich and how bad it was, gets me every time.
It both makes me laugh, but then also just makes me very sad at the same time.
So I mean, that’s the one that gets me.
And obviously a lot of that is just the real life circumstances behind it.
I think that’s a great choice.
But, yeah, it feels kind of cathartic in a way as well.
You know the best decision I ever made was stepping into the store and buying that that first sandwich.
Mia:
It was such a bad sandwich.
I know, I ate a lot of them.
I love you Mia.
Don’t do that.
The way you said it, it’s like goodbye.
Kiss Jack for me.
I, this movie made $1.5 billion.
I believe it was the best reviewed Fast film.
So there’s so much obviously going forward in that regard, and obviously people won in a way.
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
I think you’re you’re right on with that.
And always saying, “The great one is the next one in the can.”
So they felt, you couldn’t just let it go, even though it’s really difficult.
And he was saying for seven, for that first test screening, they were all super nervous.
They’re like, what are people going to think?
And also, the proper way to wrap up this special two-part episode.
Man, once we have that episode, we’re only a week out from F9, Chanelle.
It’s a little bittersweet now.
Until, of course, 10 and 11 come out, and we do special episodes.
I like the way you’re thinking.
I like the way you’re thinking.
Just because this film is going to be pretty new, we’re still digging deep.
So stay tuned for that.
Rate us, tell us what you think, share it with your friends, and family.
you’re able to find us on Twitter @DerekJLawrence or me @ChanelleBerlin.
Also head to ew.com for complete coverage of the Fast Saga and full episode transcripts.
This episode was hosted and produced by Derek Lawrence and Chanelle Berlin Johnson.
Thanks for listening, and until next time, salud, mi podcasts familia.Related content:
