Vin Diesel Shares Kobe Bryant’s Kind Words After Paul Walker Passed Away

The “F9” trailer dropped today as the “Fast & Furious” cast took over Miami. “Extra's” Jenn Lahmers was with Vin Diesel at the “The Road to F9” Global Fan Extravaganza.

The “Fast & Furious” family lost one of their own six years ago, when Paul Walker died in a horrific car crash. As the country mourns another star, Kobe Bryant, Vin remembered his friend Paul.

"Oh, my God, he's always with me wherever I go,” he said. “He's a huge part of why we make these movies. You feel his presence in almost in every frame.” He went on, “After every one of the sequels, after a premiere, him and I would walk off and he would say, 'The best one is still in the can.' That drives you to make the most powerful film you can make… There is nothing I wish more than he could be sitting next to me at the premiere.”

As for Kobe, he shared, “There is something so special about Kobe. It's such a shock for us. The world is shocked to the core. He made this world a better world and for some reason… There's the Pablo comparison, the Paul Walker comparison, and what's ironic is [Kobe] would say to me, 'How are you doing? I know you miss your brother, Pablo.'”

Diesel also opened up about reprising his role as Dom Toretto, this time as a dad.

“Yeah, I play a dad in this movie… One of the things we take pride in is evolving these characters. It's a really special film because of that bond. For the last two decades, this film has been synonymous with brotherhood… What it's evolved to, especially in this movie, is fatherhood, and that's so rich and so tender.” Vin says that means his character is living “with higher stakes.”