Vin Diesel paid tribute to his late Furious 7 co-star Paul Walker as the action man claimed two top prizes for their final film together at the People’s Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (06Jan16).
Walker passed away in a fiery car crash in November, 2013, while he was shooting the seventh instalment of the blockbuster franchise. The tragedy brought filming briefly to a halt, but Diesel and his co-stars decided to press on with the project as a way of paying tribute to their fallen pal.
After Furious 7 was released last year (15), it became the highest-grossing film in the franchise, and on Wednesday, it picked up People’s Choice honours for Favorite Movie and Favorite Action Movie.
Diesel took the stage to accept the accolades on behalf of his castmates, acknowledging his late friend as he held both trophies in his hands.
“As I was coming up here, I always do this – I say I’m not going to get emotional about winning these awards,” Diesel told the crowd. “I was cool while sitting in my seat and then they handed me two awards, one for Favorite (sic) Action Movie and one for Favorite (sic) Film, and you all thought that this was your favourite film. So I think of Dom (Diesel’s character) and Brian (Walker’s character) and I start to think of Paul.”
He continued, “It (the movie) was a labour of love. My only message to you is you’d be amazed at what you can do with love. You’d be amazed with how powerful a force that is. We didn’t want to come back to filming when the weight of the tragedy was too heavy. It was the love of everyone combined that saw (us) through to the end and now I’m standing here with all of you telling me that this was your favourite film of the year.”
Diesel wrapped up his speech by singing the chorus from See You Again, the Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth track commissioned for the Furious 7 soundtrack as a tribute to Walker.
Other multiple People’s Choice winners included Melissa McCarthy (Favorite Comedic Movie Actress and Favorite Comedic TV Actress), The Big Bang Theory (Favorite TV Show, Favorite Network TV Comedy & Favorite Comedic TV Actor for Jim Parsons), Grey’s Anatomy (Favorite Network TV Drama and Favorite Dramatic TV Actress for Ellen Pompeo), Kevin Hart (Favorite Comedic Movie Actor and Favorite Cable TV Actor), and Taylor Swift (Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Pop Artist).
Meanwhile, comedienne Ellen DeGeneres was named the Favorite Humanitarian for her charitable efforts – through her U.S. daytime talk show the former Oscars host has raised over $50 million (£33 million) for various charities concerning animals, people displaced by natural disasters, bullying, breast cancer research, children’s health and more.
Actress Melissa McCarthy presented her pal with the prize, which DeGeneres joked was “crazy, but deserved, but so, so, so, crazy. “
The ceremony, hosted by Jane Lynch, featured performances from Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, Jason DeRulo, and The Voice winner Jordan Smith at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
The list of winners is as follows:
Favorite Movie – Furious 7
Favorite Movie Actor – Channing Tatum
Favorite Movie Actress – Sandra Bullock
Favorite Action Movie – Furious 7
Favorite Action Movie Actor – Chris Hemsworth
Favorite Action Movie Actress – Shailene Woodley
Favorite Comedic Movie – Pitch Perfect 2
Favorite Comedic Movie Actor – Kevin Hart
Favorite Comedic Movie Actress – Melissa McCarthy
Favorite Dramatic Movie – The Martian
Favorite Dramatic Movie Actor – Johnny Depp
Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress – Dakota Johnson
Favorite Family Movie – Minions
Favorite Thriller Movie – Taken 3
Favorite Animated Movie Voice – Selena Gomez
Favorite TV Show – The Big Bang Theory
Favorite Network TV Comedy – The Big Bang Theory
Favorite Comedic TV Actor – Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Favorite Comedic TV Actress – Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly)
Favorite Network TV Drama – Grey’s Anatomy
Favorite Dramatic TV Actor – Taylor Kinney (Chicago Fire)
Favorite Dramatic TV Actress – Ellen Pompeo (Grey’s Anatomy)
Favorite Cable TV Comedy – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Favorite Cable TV Drama – Pretty Little Liars
Favorite Cable TV Actor – Kevin Hart (The Real Husbands of Hollywood)
Favorite Cable TV Actress – Sasha Alexander (Rizzoli & Isles)
Favorite Premium Cable TV Show – Homeland
Favorite Premium Cable TV Actor – Dwayne Johnson (Ballers)
Favorite Premium Cable TV Actress – Kristen Bell (House of Lies)
Favorite TV Crime Drama – Person of Interest
Favorite Crime Drama TV Actor – Nathan Fillion (Castle)
Favorite Crime Drama TV Actress – Stana Katic (Castle)
Favorite Network Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show – Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Cable Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV show – Outlander
Favorite Sci-Fi-Fantasy TV Actor – Jensen Ackles (Supernatural)
Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress – Caitriona Balfe (Outlander)
Favorite Competition TV Show – The Voice
Favorite Daytime TV Host – Ellen DeGeneres
Favorite Daytime TV Hosting Team – The Talk
Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host – Jimmy Fallon
Favorite Streaming Series – Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
Favorite Actor In A New TV Series – John Stamos (Grandfathered)
Favorite Actress In A New TV Series – Priyanka Chopra (Quantico)
Favorite Animated TV Show – The Simpsons
Favorite New TV Comedy – Scream Queens
Favorite New TV Drama – Supergirl
Favorite Male Artist – Ed Sheeran
Favorite Female Artist – Taylor Swift
Favorite Group – Fifth Harmony
Favorite Breakout Artist – Shawn Mendes
Favorite Male Country Artist – Blake Shelton
Favorite Female Country Artist – Carrie Underwood
Favorite Country Group – Lady Antebellum
Favorite Pop Artist – Taylor Swift
Favorite Hip-Hop Artist – Nicki Minaj
Favorite R&B Artist – The Weeknd
Favorite Album – Title by Meghan Trainor
Favorite Song – What Do You Mean? by Justin Bieber
Favorite Music Icon – Madonna
Favorite Social Media Celebrity – Britney Spears
Favorite Humanitarian – Ellen DeGeneres
