Over yonder at Variety they’ve got a great article with some great quotes from a great man. I can’t do them justice, so please, read on:
“Universal is going to have the biggest movie in history with (Furious 7).” Diesel said in a lengthy interview with Variety for this week’s cover story. “It will probably win best picture at the Oscars, unless the Oscars don’t want to be relevant ever.”
Diesel took a breath, before offering his prediction for a second time. “This will win best picture,” Diesel said. “There is nothing that will ever come close to the power of this thing.”
NOTHING AT ALL THAT WILL EVER COME CLOSE TO THE ABSOLUTE POWER OF THIS…THING. The Aurora Borealis? A glorified light show. The infinitely-entwined and immeasurable vastness of the universe? Stupid Mousetrap bullshit. I also like the safety net of, “Well, it’ll probably win Best Picture, unless of course the Oscars don’t want to be relevant anymore like a bunch of idiots. Then I guess it might not.”
Here’s another!
The head of the studio, Ron Meyer, often said when ‘Fast 5′ or ‘Fast 6′ came out, ‘If there was no number attached to these movies, they would be contenders for best picture.’ And when people see ‘Furious 7,’ they are going to agree.”
Yea. Now, look: I’ve read about that scene where they all sit down at some point in the movie (I’m assuming it’s toward the end) and everyone genuinely spilled their guts about their feelings for Paul Walker, and basically nobody had to actually act. I get that scenes like that are inherently powerful. I STILL cry at that scene in Newsradio where Dave Nelson reads his eulogy for Bill McNeil, and it’s basically Dave Foley saying goodbye to Phil Hartman. It’s heart-rending stuff.
So yea, I don’t know how many Oscars it will win, but I’m sure Furious 7 will have me weeping like a small child.