Paul Walker - Fast and Famous

He's the epitome of a blonde, blue-eyed surfer hunk and actor Paul Walker did grow up surfing, and skateboarding. Now, however, the hot star of Fast and the Furious and its sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, is into cars....Bigtime. When we chatted with Paul in L.A. he was enthusiastic about his action movie which moves from L.A. to racy Miami. He's also dedicated to street racing and hopes to promote safe areas where it's legally okay to race. He really enjoyed working with his new co-star, R&B singer Tyrese who joined the film when Vin Diesel declined to return to reprise his role. Those big blue eyes really lit up when Paul talked about his cars, his 4-year-old daughter or his desire to play a cowboy.

TeenHollywood: Did this new film feel like a sequel or a completely new movie?

Paul: It's like comparing apples and oranges. This one is funny. This one has a sense of humor. The last one, I think, took itself real seriously but somehow we managed to stretch a quarter mile race, something that goes by in twelve, maybe thirteen seconds at most into three, four minutes [Laughs] and no one blinked an eye.

TeenHollywood: What do you like most about the film?

Paul: The thing that I like about it and the thing that I hope separates us from most of the other summer movies is that you look [at the others] and everything is CGI'd up the wahzoo. We had a little bit, but for the most part, the driving, it's all real. We got the guy who did the second unit direction, Terry Leonard, was John Wayne's stunt double. He looks at CGI like that stuff is killing an art form. He came from a day when they weren't wearing pads. They were getting busted up.

TeenHollywood: What was the top speed that you personally drove in the film?

Paul: Over 120 miles an hour was the top speed, weaving in and out of traffic. That chase sequence on the freeway where basically we're racing for the job. I'd worked with the stunt coordinator and the 2nd unit director before, and Universal, they let me do a lot of the driving in the first one, so they let me do a lot of the high speed stuff.

TeenHollywood: So what was the most dangerous thing you did?

Paul: Well weaving in and out of traffic at over 120 is pretty intense. Stunt men, they're well versed in everything but my focus has been driving. My double is arguably the best driver in Hollywood, and we race together all the time but when certain people weren't around, they were throwing me in behind the wheel.

TeenHollywood: You're a California surfer dude. How did you fit in to the more hip hop style of this new film?

Paul: It's crossed over so much. I'm living in Huntington Beach now, but I grew up surfing. The surfing culture is not like it was ten years ago. They listen to hip hop and rap. It's all crossed over, and it's all mixed up. I'm as white as white gets. I mean, there's no question, but hanging out with Tyrese and our characters were supposed to have grown up together, I needed to have a little more flair so, Tyrese was a bit of a coach for me.

TeenHollywood: Did you know when you met that you guys would have a great connection? We hear you are buddies now.

Paul: No, if you were to tell me that we were going to get along like we did, I would've said, 'You're full of it. There's no way.' I thought that he was going to be an egotistical maniac, and I thought that we'd be going rounds. I sat down with him for just a few minutes, and I was like, 'Man, this guy actually seems like he has some soul, he seems like he's a pretty good guy'. I love Tyrese, he's like my brother now. It will always be that way.

TeenHollywood: The drivers in the movie do something called "drifting". What is that and did you do the driving for it?

Paul: That's my forte, that's what I do. You know, I have a Skyline myself. Mitsubishi is actually putting together a race car driving team for me right now so, I'll be racing, doing rally and SCAA. Drifting is the craze right now in Japan. The Japanese are ahead of the game. They're intentionally putting their cars into what they call a drift. It's a controlled four-wheel slide. So, there are maybe two or three cars deep, sliding around the corner, using the slide of the car to control their speed. That's a whole new level.

TeenHollywood: So, does racing serve as an anti-drug for you?

Paul: My sports do. I play a lot of basketball, a lot of volleyball. I'm into racing cars, I surf a lot, I snowboard. All of the Southern California stuff, I do. I skate, do a lot of downhill skateboarding. As of late, that's my thing.

TeenHollywood: If this film works your career will just be hotter. How do you see yourself progressing?

Paul: I never thought that I was going to be in this position and I never really even dreamt of it. Now, I'm at a point where I want to mix it up. I don't want to stick with doing this [big action movies]. You know what I really want to do? A gritty western like 'The Unforgiven'. I've got my cast too. Cole Hauser and I want to go make a western. You know, give me Ed Harris and Sam Elliot and I want to live like cowboys for three months, no trailers, no anything, living on horseback.

TeenHollywood: Do you get reactions from die-hard fans of racing?

Paul: Most of the fans love it. They tell me all the time, 'Thanks for bringing the attention and respect to what we do, but as a result, at the same time, the cops are on us like you wouldn't understand, and the second we assemble, we get busted up, and we don't even get to race anymore.' There may be a heightened interest and awareness, but it's that much harder to do it.

TeenHollywood: Should we build places to go and race?

Paul: I grew up skating and cops sweat me more than anyone because I was skating on a sidewalk and I'm like, 'Where the hell else am I supposed to skate? I can't skate in the middle of the street. I'll get cited for that and I'll probably get run over,' and so, my whole thing was, 'Give me a skate park,' and you're just beginning to see them pop up, but I like to think that that's what's going to happen with this. People will be petitioning and getting in there and trying to mix it up. In the San Fernando valley, back in the day when my grandfather was racing, there were race tracks everywhere, but because of liability and lawsuits, they shut them down, but I don't know, we may see a wave of them. A lot of people asked me if I'd be the frontrunner to get that going.

TeenHollywood: What do you do when not working?

Paul: I'm less than a block in from the water. I see the surf from my patio, my balcony. I go down there with my dog, paddle out for a little while. I have a little girl, four and half years old and so, when I'm not working, I'm a father all of the time, making up for the time that I'm not around. I hang out with my family and friends, man. The people that I knew when I was two, those are the people that are still around.

TeenHollywood: So are you an adrenaline junkie, and how has that changed since the birth of your daughter?

Paul: I mellowed out a lot. The Superman complex left a while ago. I busted myself up a couple of times pretty good man. My daughter thinks I'm a mechanic. Her mom hasn't even seen a movie that I've been in. I think it's cool. You know what I mean, but her friends are beginning [to tell her]. I had to bring her on set with me one day and she's like freaking out in the trailer. She wants to see her dad. She's brought to the stage and I get underneath the hood of the car. She's like, 'Daddy what are you doing,' and she sees the cameras and everything. I'm like, 'I'm just fixing the car real quick.'

TeenHollywood: Okay, a hunk question [Paul rolls his eyes]. Now Tyrese took off his shirt. Why didn't you take off yours?

Paul: Well I think it's pretty obvious. I'm lean, you know, and I'm pretty ripped, but no, you know he's the gym guy. You know I'm not.

TeenHollywood: Well everybody seems to be mesmerized by your eyes. What does it feel like to be a sex symbol?

Paul: Yo, I'm not a sex symbol. It's just a matter of time until they find [out], I'm a jackass. You know what I mean?. I'm a kid. I'm 29 years-old, but I'm just a big kid. I epitomize the Toys 'R Us spirit. That's the bottom line.

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter