Vin Diesel Movies: Actor Says His Immortal Role in 'The Last Witch Hunter' Helped Him Cope with Paul Walker's Death

With Vin Diesel continuing to struggle over the death of his good friend and ‘Furious 7’ costar Paul Walker, the actor opened up about how his role as an immortal in the new movie ‘The Last Witch Hunter’ helped him cope with his grief.

“Death was a huge theme last year,” Diesel told The Associated Press on Friday. “There was something therapeutic about playing this role after going through [Walker’s death].”

Although Diesel previously starred in fantasy and sci-fi movies, including ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ series, ‘Babylon A.D.’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ he shared how his latest role has been greatly special for him, describing his experience in playing an immortal individual to be very melancholic.

“2014 was a tough year for me in some ways — a lot of ways,” Diesel explained. “Playing a character that was masking his sorrow — his loss — was very appropriate for the time, because that’s what I was doing in real life with the post-‘Furious 7.’”

The father-of-three previously opened up about having a more appropriate and unique vision in helming the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise. He believes that only director Rob Cohen, who worked on the original ‘Fast and the Furious,’ can bring justice to its upcoming movies.

“There has always been the desire by Paul [Walker] to have Rob [Cohen] direct one more, this is what fueled my campaign,” Diesel wrote in a Facebook post. “I believe that he can and would reset the franchise nicely, returning to what was the core of the film in the beginning… racing.”

With Walker’s ill-timed demise almost two years ago, Diesel believes that Cohen “would also handle the Brian O’connor [sic] issue with integrity, given that he and David Ayer were the ones who initially created that beloved character in the first place."

It has recently been confirmed, though, that ‘Straight Outta Compton’ director F. Gary Gray will be taking over the directorial duties as previous helmer James Wan has already moved on to directing ‘The Conjuring 2.’

Gray shared the big news himself on Twitter, although it is yet uncertain if he will also continue to work on the series until its planned tenth movie.

Diesel also shared Walker’s vision on how long the film series will be able to continue.

“He took a lot of pride in this franchise and he’d be smiling down at the idea of us actually doing what we talked about, which is going to the 10th chapter,” Diesel said.