I had the pleasure of interviewing the beautiful (on the inside and out) Paul Walker countless times, first for the movie The Skulls, then for the first Fast & The Furious movie, and countless times after, and it comes as a shock to report that he has died!
Actor Paul Walker, a star of the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise, died Saturday in a car accident, according to his official Facebook page and verified Twitter account.
“It is with a truly heavy heart that we must confirm that Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide,” according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.
“He was a passenger in a friend’s car, in which both lost their lives,” the statement said.
The accident occurred at 3:30 PM PST on Rye Canyon Loop in Valencia. The identity of the driver, who also died, was not released. Paul Walker and the driver were in a Porsche GT, which burst into flames upon impact. It isn’t yet known how fast the vehicle was going at the time of the accident.
The website for the charity indicated there was an event in Southern California on Saturday to benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
“Paul was truly one of the most beloved and respected members of our studio family for 14 years, and this loss is devastating to us, to everyone involved with the Fast and Furious films, and to countless fans. We send our deepest and most sincere condolences to Paul’s family,” a representative for Universal Pictures, the studio behind all of the Fast & Furious movies, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Santa Clarita Valley Police Station confirmed that deputies responded to a traffic collision in Valencia on Saturday afternoon and discovered a vehicle in open flames. The accident appeared to be a single-car collision against a fixed object near the road. The fire department extinguished the flames and located two bodies trapped inside the vehicle, both of whom were later pronounced dead.
Along with Vin Diesel, the 40-year-old Paul Walker has been one of the stalwarts of the “Fast and Furious” movie series, characterized by its racing scenes and attractive cast.
The box-office success of the first Fast & Furious film in 2001 fueled countless sequels. The series’ sixth installment came out earlier this year, topping the Memorial Day weekend movie box office, beating the third in The Hangover series by a wide margin.
On his verified Twitter account, Paul Walker described himself as “outdoorsman, ocean addict, adrenaline junkie … and I do some acting on the side.”
The Paul Walker movie HOURS arrives in movie theaters December 13, 2013. Hours is about a father struggling to keep his newborn infant alive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Watch the trailer from Hours below.
Stay tuned for updates including those for Fast & Furious 7, (almost in post-production, but still filming), which arrives in movie theaters Summer 2015.
