'Furious 7' moves full speed ahead with outrageous action

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The new movie "Furious 7" is revving up for a record debut. The sequel is on track to gross more than $115 million domestically.

The franchise has set the bar high for outrageous action sequences in the past, and the latest film continues the tradition, pushing the limits on-screen with its mind boggling stunts.

Co-star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is no stranger to big action. He says when he first saw the script for "Furious 7," his mind went two ways.

"I think awesome!" Johnson said. "Then I think how in the hell is he (the director) going to do this?"

Director James Wan is new to the "Fast and Furious" family, but he didn't let his freshman status intimidate him or stifle his wildly creative ideas. Co-star Jason Statham was impressed.

"You know there's so many action sequences that were written," Statham said. "You go how are they going to get cars to fly out of the back of a plane, land them on the road and keep going? You could sink or swim trying to execute that. But they do it in such a believable way, you just think, 'That could happen!' They know what they're doing, they hire the best of the best to do this kind of stuff."

"We know that we continue to sign up for these movies where the scope of the movies continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger," Tyrese Gibson said. "As much as you would think it's about doing another one and another one, it's so much about the fans and the supporters of this franchise."

Chris Ludacris Bridges has been part of the series since the second film, but movie number seven presented him with a first.

"I was happy to get a fight scene in this movie!" Bridges said. "I actually fought hard to get that fight scene. I had to do a demo of the martial arts that I was doing in order to get it, so I'm very happy that they kept it in the movie."

Newcomer Nathalie Emmanuel also had an eye opening, action-filled experience when it came to her "Furious" orientation.

"I was like, 'They're going to make me do what?'" Emmanuel said. "They're going to throw me off the back of a bus? Wow! That's crazy!"

Emmanuel gives all credit to the incredible stunt team associated with "Furious 7," who did the more rigorous work. Still, she had to literally hold her own for many of the scenes.

"When I finished days like that, I was like, 'This was a good day and I accomplished a lot,'" Emmanuel said. "That's all you can ask for in any day's work."

"Furious 7" is in theaters this weekend.