Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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And then something really worked, so to be a part of it 14 years later is insane." The cast, which also includes Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, has formed a tight-knit family, Brewster says. "It's strange because on the one hand, there's this larger-than-life aspect to it—it's global and just gets bigger and bigger. On the other hand, there's such a comfort level with being on that set, because you know everyone. We've been through so much." I n November 2013, Walker, the franchise's leading man, died in a horrific auto acci- dent when the Porsche Carrera GT he was riding in crashed into a lamppost and burst into f lames. Authorities determined that the car, driven by his friend Roger Rodas, a semiprofessional racer, was traveling at up to 93 mph and that speed was the sole cause of the crash. Ironically, the incident occurred during the filming of Furious 7 in California. Brewster still finds her costar's sudden death exceedingly difficult to discuss. "Recently someone asked me something about Paul on the red carpet," she says, "and I so badly wanted to say I can't express what he meant to me or what the impact of him being gone has had on my life in one quote, because I loved Paul so much." In the ensuing months, she found consolation in constant reminders of Walker's compassion and humanity. She was particularly struck by the posthumous revelation that he had anony- mously purchased an engagement ring for an Iraq War veteran to give to his fiancée after overhearing in a jewelry store that they couldn't afford the one she wanted. "What Paul had was the gift of being really present to everyone around him," Brewster says. "It's something I've worked really hard on. I think all of us try so hard, and it's difficult to have that innately." Walker was also her on-set confidant, she adds, someone with whom she could speak without any judg ment. "It's one of the best qualities you can have in a friend. He didn't want the drama. He didn't get wrapped up in the stuff that so many people in the industry do…. So I was just blessed to know him at all." With her easygoing manner, Brewster herself seems pretty detached from the trappings of Hollywood. Even though she has spent years atop various magazines' "sexiest women" lists and has stirred a frenzy in many a Furious fanboy, she comes across as unaffected. In fact, the actress, 34, has no qualms about pulling back the curtain to reveal the ever- grinding cogs in the Hollywood machine. "I used to think that everything in this business happened really organically," she says. "I didn't understand that your agent or your pub- licist or your manager and all these people were working really effing hard to get you a job, to get you on covers and pitching you. I thought it must all be coming because there's really something special about you. And now that I get how much work it is and what you have to put into it, I see the artifice behind it. That helps me separate who I am day-to-day versus the chick who got her hair and makeup done who's going to the premiere and looks stunning because of all the work people put into it." And how does the Ivy League grad feel about the fawning over her looks? "I used to take it so seriously in my early 20s. I was like, 'I don't want to be objectified blah blah blah,'" she says in a mock Valley girl accent. "But then I realized, Wow, this is super f leeting…. It allowed me to not take everything as seriously and kind of enjoy everything more. So that's been really, really great for me." Today much of Brewster's time is centered on her 2½ -year-old son, Julien, and her husband, producer A ndrew For m, whom she met on t he set of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003. The couple live in California, although their work often divides them. "We chat about 10 times a day…. It's really nice to want to talk to your best friend all the time," says Brewster, who reportedly dated Boston's own Mark Wahlberg back in the day. And motherhood, she confesses, has changed her: "Just becoming a mom, I've done two things I swore I would never do." For starters, she decamped from the trendy West Hollywood to a much more family-friendly enclave closer to the ocean. And she's shocked to find herself on the hunt for preschools. "I'm trying to figure out where I want him to go and what would be the best fit," she says. "I thought I would be so mellow about this stuff, but I'm really not." With the latest Furious film about to be released and her work on the Dallas reboot over with the cancellation of that series last year, Brewster is considering her next steps. She finds herself drawn to darker material these days, counting Showtime's national security thriller Homeland and the BBC psychological crime drama Luther among her favorite shows. It's their gritty reality that compels her, and she attributes that to motherhood, too: "It's sort of deep- ened everything. I feel everything so much more, and the stakes are so great." Sounds like the sentiment of a woman who, like her forebears, is setting sail for uncharted territory. BC bostoncommon-magazine.com 87