You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
Life NOT imitating art.
Paul Walker was killed in a single car crash in Southern California on Saturday.
Had life imitated art, the handsome movie star would have miraculously survived. Had life imitated art, the celebrity would have walked away, perhaps a gash on his head, but no worse for the wear.
But real life is not so forgiving. Real life is real and it doesn’t usually imitate art.
The violence, the ferocity, the finality of it all can be understood by simply looking at the Porsche. It was a bright red, beautiful race car. It costs more than a quarter million dollars and can reach 200 mph with a yawn.
But on the side of the road, under the 45 mph sign, bent like a macaroni noodle, that race machine looks more like tin foil left on the grill. The Porsche is crushed and charred and hardly recognizable as anything but a flying inferno of death.
Paul Walker was a movie star. He had a fearless, cock sure, action hero demeanor. In real life and the movies, Walker was Hollywood good looking with 2 day razor stubble and piercing blue eyes. He has been an actor most of his life, but his fame and fortune is tied to his role as Brian O’Conner in the Fast and Furious series.
He was a star in 5 of the 6 films that grossed some 2 billion dollars. 120 mph is where he lived. Nitrous burning acceleration was his calling card.
In the movies, there was nothing that Walker couldn’t do in a car. He raced through intersections, jumped cliffs and defied death.
But in real life, the trees don’t give way. In real life the director doesn’t yell cut. In real life the firemen aren’t standing by with fire extinguishers.
In real life the metal crumples, the flames burn, people die.
The end of life in real life, is horribly final.
According to investigators Walker was a passenger in the Porsche that left the road, hit a tree, a utility pole, and exploded.
Both people inside the car died at the scene.
In a sad bit of irony, the fire was caught on grainy cell phone footage, a far cry from the multi million dollar special effects normally associated with Walker.
The sheriff’s department says speed was a factor.
Was there any doubt.
Of course speed was a factor. Had to be. A Porsche crumpled like a tin can, burned to a crisp?
This asphalt demon doesn’t just leave the road by accident. Not if it’s going 45 mph.
So what happened?
Those details have yet to be released. The star was at a fund raiser with his race car buddy. They were not far from the event when their race car blew all to hell.
What is clear is life doesn’t imitate art.
If this was a film, Walker would walk away from the explosion in slow motion. If this was art, he’d have a scratch on his arm and sweat on his brow, but he’d save the day, get the girl and live to fight again.
Now his co-stars have filled Twitter with condolences and unadulterated disbelief. Fans have turned the crash scene into a make shift memorial, some arriving in suped up hot rods similar to the kind the speed junkie drove in the movies.
Walker was filming the 7th Fast and Furious.
How will this affect the story, the filming? It’s still unclear.
It’s Hollywood. They can write anyone into or out of a film. Heath Ledger died during the filming of Batman and won an academy award. Brandon Lee died during filming of the Crow, and is a cult hero.
It’s too bad life doesn’t imitate art. If it did, the 40 year old would still be around today and his 15 year old daughter wouldn’t be planing a funeral.
RIP Paul Walker
Fast and Furious is no way to die in real life.
Life’s Crazy™