FAST AND FURIOUS ACTOR PAUL WALKER DIES IN SPEED-RELATED ACCIDENT (Updated)

In a chillingly ironic tragedy, Paul Walker, co-star of Universal’s auto-racing franchise Fast and Furious, was killed in a high-speed single-vehicle accident on Saturday in Valencia, CA, according to a spokesman for the Santa Clarita sheriff’s office. The driver of the car and its owner was Roger Rodas, a classic-car enthusiast and investment counselor, who, according to a New York Times report, advised automobile collectors last January not to purchase a classic vehicle for everyday driving or as an investment. Instead, he said, “buy something you’re going to enjoy on weekends.” That is presumably what he and Walker were doing on Saturday in a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, a car that fetches nearly half a million dollars on the classic-car market (RadarOnline reported that Rodas paid $359,999 for it), when Rodas apparently lost control and crashed it into a tree and utility pole in Valencia. The accident occurred on Rye Canyon Loop, a treacherous road with sharp curves where Rodas’s high-end auto shop Always Evolving and Picture Vehicles Unlimited, which provides automobiles and special-effects rigging to the studios, are located. Walker, himself an auto racing enthusiast, had been working on the latest Fast and Furious installment (#7) at the time of the accident, but the Hollywood Reporter said that the producers had no intention of abandoning the movie, although it would likely be delayed beyond the scheduled July 2014 release date. On the other hand, the gossip website TMZ quoted sources as saying that the actors and crew, who were expected to resume filming in Atlanta on Tuesday, were now expecting at least a delay in production. Citing unnamed sources, TMZ said that most of the coming week’s scenes centered around Walker, so that even if the studio decided to go ahead with the production, major rewrites would be required. The studio has yet to comment on its plans for the movie.