Vin Diesel, 47, said last week that the latest Fast & Furious film deserves a Best Picture Oscar, but has two strikes against it – it’s an action flick and a sequel.
“Do I shy away from aiming high? No, I don’t,” said the actor, who has appeared in almost all of the Fast & Furious films based around fast cars.
“And yet we all know that there’s a little stigma towards action films, we know it, we’ve heard people complain about it, we’ve heard Marvel complain about it, we’ve heard DC complain about it, and now Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Batman have never gotten a shot at that,” he said.
Alluding to the fact that many of the recent Oscar Best Picture winners haven’t fared well at the box office, Diesel said: “The Oscars have been somewhat criticised in the past couple of years for maybe not being as populist as they could be, but we have a very powerful movie here.”
He said that Fast & Furious 7 has an “emotional toll,” which might make people argue that it is more directed toward women.
“We’re actually responding to the fact that our woman audience has just increased and has either eclipsed or is threatening to eclipse our male audience,” said Diesel, who also produces the Universal Pictures’ movie.
Diesel said that the Academy hasn’t given a Best Picture Oscar to a sequel since a 1974 movie – The Godfather: Part II. However, the nod has gone more recently to the final film in a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2004.
In Fast & Furious 7, Diesel plays street racer Dominic Toretto, whose family is threatened by Jason Statham’s character, who is out for revenge for the death of his brother. Statham said audiences will be able to relate to the fact that both men are standing up for their family.
“Everyone knows what family means,” said Statham.
The film is one of the last movies starring Paul Walker, who died in a car crash during a break in the filming of Fast & Furious 7 in November 2013. Walker was a passenger in the car, and investigators cited unsafe speed as a cause of the accident.
The movie was completed with help from Walker’s brothers and is a tribute to him.
Michelle Rodriguez, who plays racer Letty Ortiz, said: “I’m going to celebrate him, and I’m going to celebrate everything that he represented about the celebration of life and the love of pushing life to its edge because there are individuals on this planet who can’t live otherwise, they can’t live ordinary lives cooped up hiding from danger.” – AP