The two stars were close friends and costars in the Fast & Furious movie franchise
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in March 2009. PHOTO: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY
Vin Diesel is honoring his late friend and costar Paul Walker.
On the night before the ninth anniversary of his friend’s death, the Riddick star shared a throwback photo of the costars in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“Nine years… love you and miss you,” Diesel, 55, posted alongside the photo.
Walker died on Nov. 30, 2013, in a car crash. He was 40. As he was in the middle of filming Fast 7 at the time, Paul’s brothers Caleb and Cody were hired to stand in for him for the remainder of production, before his face was digitally superimposed onto their bodies.
Walker’s brother Cody spoke to TMZ last year, praising the way Diesel has continued to honor his late brother.
“I think Vin and the whole family have done a good job tastefully letting the character ride off into the sunset. I think Paul would get a real kick out of where it’s gone. It’s gotten so crazy. It’s a wild, wild ride at this point,” said Cody, who briefly appeared in Furious 7 while helping the franchise write off Walker’s character.
“I can’t speculate what he would think, I just know that Vin always takes a very serious approach to keeping Paul’s legacy in mind and has always done a really nice job paying tribute to his character,” Cody added. “They worked together and were brothers for years. They were all so young when this thing first started.”
Diesel isn’t the only one of the Fast and Furious crew mourning Walker. Jordana Brewster recently revealed that her connection to Walker is forever.
Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster. CARLOS ALVAREZ/GETTY
The Fast and Furious star, 42, opened up to PEOPLE about how she grieves for her late costar in an interview last year.
“I think when someone passes away that has a huge impact on your life and has had a huge impact, frankly, on so many people’s lives,” Brewster told PEOPLE of Walker, who played her onscreen husband in the action movie franchise.
Her grief “goes in waves where it’s super visceral at times, and it’s like it’s unimaginable that that person’s not with us anymore,” she shared.
“It just gets very intense and then sometimes it’s less intense,” Brewster continued. “But it just comes in waves, regardless of whether it’s that person’s birthday or not.”
