Paul Walker also revealed that working on the film changed how he looked at cars.
He noted that he was already a car enthusiast before he began working on the film. His expertise, however, lay in American-made cars, such as Ford or Chevrolet. Walker said that this knowledge helped him better inform the character of O'Conner, likening it to being a salesperson who genuinely believes in a product they're selling.
Working on the film, however, gave Walker a sense of what non-American cars were capable of, which instilled in him a newfound respect and enthusiasm for them. His work on the film also gave the actor an appreciation for street drag racing culture in general, and he told the interviewer that he was attending drag races with a Nissan Skyline that he was working on. He noted that his appreciation for non-American cars also endeared him to the crowd, especially when they learned that it was his work in the movie that led to it. While his role as O'Conner already made him a favorite among the drag racing crowd, his knowledge of cars only added to it.
Paul Walker played O'Conner until his passing in 2013 from a car accident.
