Paul Walker’s brothers have joined the production of Fast & Furious 7 to help fill in for the late actor, the studio confirmed via a press release (which was then posted by ComingSoon.net). Caleb and Cody Walker will appear as body doubles for their sibling on screen appear in several action scenes that the Fast and Furious star wasn’t able to complete before his untimely death on November 30, 2013.
Last month the studio confirmed that it would move ahead with production on Fast & Furious 7 using body doubles and CGI in place of Walker to fill in the gaps. It’s unclear exactly how much of his scheduled filming the actor completed before his death, but some reports put it at around 50 percent. The filmmakers considered completely scrapping the existing footage and starting over from scratch, but instead elected to keep what Walker filmed, and proceed following rewrites.
To announce the addition of the Walker brothers to the cast, the filmmakers released the following statement.
The FAST & FURIOUS saga is about family. The characters are connected by the bond of family, and it is how all of us who have worked together for more than thirteen years feel about each other. It certainly defines how we feel about our fans.
Our family experienced an unthinkable shock in November. We had to take time to grieve Paul, the brother we love and lost, and to figure out if we should move on with our film.
We came together and all felt the only choice was to continue. We believe our fans want that, and we believe Paul would want that too. Paul had already shot his dramatic scenes and most of his action for FAST & FURIOUS 7, and it’s among the strongest work of his career.
We have resumed shooting and now welcome Paul’s brothers, Caleb and Cody, into our FAST family. Caleb and Cody are helping us complete some remaining action for their brother and fill in small gaps left in production. Having them on set has made us all feel that Paul is with us too.
We are just under a year away from the release of FAST & FURIOUS 7, and this film is the most important we’ve ever done together. It will allow the character of Brian O’Conner to live on and let us celebrate Paul in his most defining role.
We wanted to take a moment to speak to our fans directly and thank you for the love and support you always show us as we resume our work.
Fast & Furious 7 was originally scheduled for release on July 11, 2014, but has since been pushed back to April 10, 2015. Multiple sequels are already being discussed, and several of the cast have signed on for future installments. Walker’s role of Brian O’Conner was meant to be a key part of the franchise in the future, but the character will now be retired.
