Vin Diesel: 'Witch Hunter' helped with Paul Walker's death

Vin Diesel's latest role finds the action star in the fantasy world of The Last Witch Hunter. But this wasn't just another part in a movie for Diesel.

Playing a man cursed with immortality had a lot of meaning for the actor, who filmed the movie not long after the death of friend and co-star Paul Walker. Diesel told the AP that filming Witch Hunter actually helped him with his grief:

"Death was a huge theme last year. There was something therapeutic about playing this role after going through (Walker's death). ... 2014 was a tough year for me in some ways -- a lot of ways. Playing a character that was masking his sorrow -- his loss -- was very appropriate for the time, because that’s what I was doing in real life with the post-Furious 7.''

Diesel and Walker starred together in the Fast and Furious franchise and the seventh installment released earlier this year, was the last performance Walker filmed before his death in 2013. That franchise is slated for three more movies, a prospect Diesel told the AP Walker would be happy about:

"(Walker) took a lot of pride in this franchise. and he’d be smiling down at the idea of us actually doing what we talked about, which is going to the 10th chapter."