By Mallory Mattingly
Hollywood legend Michael Caine’s kindness changed FAST & FURIOUS star Vin Diesel’s life after he endured a tragic loss.
Last week, the BATMAN BEGINS star received a standing ovation at The Red Sea International Film Festival as he was awarded the Red Sea Honoree Award.
According to the Daily Mail, Caine accepted the was “honour from his longtime friend Vin Diesel at the glitzy event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”
Diesel took to social media after the awards ceremony to share the impact Caine has had on his life.
Related: Michael Caine Announces Retirement from Acting
“I wanted to wait until you and your family were safely home in London before sharing this,” Diesel began. “The world saw me hand you a Lifetime Achievement Award this week. Your Wife, daughters, and grandchildren are watching. What they didn’t see was everything else…”
“When we first met, I was drowning in a fame I never learned to carry. You taught me grace. Resolve. How to stand in my light when I didn’t know how,” the actor continued. “Twelve years ago, I lost someone I was not ready to lose…that the world was not ready to lose.”
Diesel’s FAST & FURIOUS costar and friend Paul Walker passed away in a car crash 12 years ago.
“You were there… not with words, but with purpose,” Diesel said of Caine. “You allowed for me to play Kaulder. When mortality had its grip on my life, you brought immortality. THE LAST WITCH HUNTER wasn’t just a film, it was my resurrection.”
“Your wife, lovely Shakira, embraced mine; your family became my family,” he concluded. “This summer, three years after retiring, you came back. The words you spoke in character transcended film…like a gift of wisdom. Whenever I’m at your house, I notice the walls. Only photographs of family. Not legends or movies, just family. That is not simplicity. That is a declaration. And once, in a room full of Nolan, Poitier, and Hollywood royalty, you stood and introduced me as your son. Powerful moment. We’re just two kids from nothing, dreamers who became something. You said I speak to the world, but Michael…you speak to eternity. I love you. Forever.”
The bond of friendship is mutual.
“Vin’s special. I love Vin,” Caine wrote of Diesel in his memoir Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over. “We first met at a dinner party about thirty years ago. I just instinctively greeted him with a hug and announced to the whole room, ‘This is my son!’”
“Sometimes, you sense a connection. I just liked the guy immediately, he has a big heart,” he continued to write. “It turned out he was going through some tough times back then, so I think perhaps it made an impression upon him to be embraced and treated with love. Anyway, we’ve been great friends ever since.”
Caine and Diesel’s friendship is a reminder that being present for those facing tragedy can have a transformative impact on their lives.
Read Next: Michael Caine Recalls Heath Ledger’s Villainy in THE DARK KNIGHT: ‘I Was Terrified!’
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