Vin Diesel appeared to be enjoying himself at the Furious 7 premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre Wednesday night in Hollywood.

Vin Diesel At ‘Furious 7’ Premiere

At the premiere for the latest installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, Diesel was in good spirits, posing in front of a souped-up green car, mugging for the camera. While the action-packed movie has all the thrills of the previous films and more – making Diesel and the rest thrilled to see the movie hit theaters – Paul Walker‘s death towards the end of the film’s shooting still weighs heavily on the cast.

Speaking at his hand and footprint ceremony Wednesday before the premiere, Diesel opened up about the difficulty of getting back to work on the movie, but that the end result was worth their efforts to complete Furious 7. 

“Last year, it was really hard to come back to work,” Diesel said to the crowd. “The studio was saying, ‘We feel your soul, and we’ll do whatever we have to do to honor your brother [Paul].”

“The movie is more than a movie,” Diesel added. “There’s something emotional that happens to you, where you walk out of this movie and you appreciate everyone you love because you just never know when the last day is you’re going to see them.”

Though some reports have suggested that Furious 7 could be the last movie in the franchise, Diesel hinted on Jimmy Kimmel that an eighth is in the works – and that it will be set in New York City.

“Kurt Russell came in for this movie, but we really hired him because of a story that follows this that takes place in New York,” Diesel told the host, though declined to go into further details about the prospective picture.

Furious 7 hits theaters Friday, April 3.