Filming for Paul Walker’s last film, “Fast & Furious 7,” will start on or near April 1.
That gives the management team almost one year before the film is set to hit theaters on April 10, 2015.
The release date was pushed back from 2014 after Walker suddenly died in November 2013.
Most of the scenes his character Brian O'Conner was slated to be in have been shot--but not all.
That forced a re-write of the script and the possibility of bringing Walker’s younger brother Cody on board.
“Producers had a string of meetings right after Paul’s death,” a source told the Daily Mail.
“They soon realized they needed someone who looked like Paul to finish the movie and that’s when they approached his nearly identical brother, Cody. They can shoot Cody from behind and at distance and if it’s a shot they need Paul’s face in close up they can CGI it later on.”
Paul Walker with his brother Cody Walker, middle. (Instagram)
Walker’s co-star Vin Diesel first shared the news about the postponed release date, sharing a photo of himself and Walker filming a scene.
“The last scene we filmed together. There was a unique sense of completion, of pride we shared … in the film we were now completing… the magic captured … and, in just how far we’ve come…Fast and Furious 7 will be released…April 10th 2015! P.s. He'd want you to know first.”
When filming re-starts, there will be six to eight weeks of shooting, insiders told The Hollywood Reports.
Cast and crew will be in Atlanta, where filming was scheduled to resume after Thanksgiving before Walker’s death.
The entire movie was about 50 percent finished before the death.
Insiders say that O‘Conner will be “retired” as opposed to being killed, although some reports indicate that O’Conner will in fact be killed.
The seventh installment of the film brings in Jason Statham as Ian Shaw, the brother of Owen Shaw, who Dominic Toretto and his crew killed in “Fast & Furious 6.”
At the end of that movie, it was revealed that Ian was the one who killed Han near the end of “Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift.”
In addition to Walker and Diesel returning, Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Luke Hobbs), Tej (Ludacris), and Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto) are among the series regulars who will be back.
Luke Hobbs and Tej in “Fast and Furious 6”.” (Universal Pictures)
Several other new faces other than Statham are on board, including Kurt Russell as an unnamed character as a father-type character to Dominic. Michael Jai White, Djimon Hounsou, Ronda Rousey, and Tony Jaa are also joining this film.
Because of the tie-in with “Tokyo Drift,” several of the main characters from that movie--Sean Boswell (Lucas Black), Neela (Nathalie Kelly), and Twinke (Bow Wow; only rumored at this point)--are coming back into the series.
