Vin Diesel showed his soft side at a California screening of Furious 7<\/i>\u00a0on Monday night.<\/p>\n
The 47-year-old star and producer took time out from hanging out with his newborn child to introduce the seventh film in the franchise, and got choked up several times as he talked about his late pal and co-star, Paul Walker, who died in a car crash at the age of 40 in 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a labor of love, and in some ways hardest movie I\u2019ve ever had to do, because the relationships that you see on film are so real,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cWhen the tragedy happened, I lost my best friend. I lost my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that point, the actor paused, seemingly unable to continue as the emotion washed over him. But with some encouragement from the crowd \u2014 including one guy who assured him that \u201cYou\u2019ve got family here, Vin\u201d \u2014 Diesel soldiered on.\u00a0\u201cWe truly made this for you,\u201d he told the audience.<\/p>\n
Walker and Diesel grew close during the Fast <\/i>films \u2013 so much so that Diesel nicknamed his co-star\u00a0\u201cPablo.\u201d Earlier in his talk with the crowd, he noted that Furious 7\u00a0<\/i>was\u00a0\u201da very, very personal and important movie,\u201d adding: \u00a0\u201cEvery time when I saw the [latest Fast<\/i>]\u00a0<\/i>movie at the premiere, Paul Walker and I would go off to the side, and he would always tell me, \u2018Vin, the best one\u2019s still in the can.\u2019 Well I hope that tonight, you let Pablo know that this is the best one for you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of his speech, Diesel pointed to an image of Walker on the screen.\u00a0\u201cKnow that this our gift to you,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cAnd more importantly, it\u2019s for my brother there. Let it be the legacy we know he deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Furious 7 opens on April 3rd.<\/p>\n
Watch video below\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n