“Fast and Furious”: why did Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson fight? this is the true story

The successful franchise ofFast and furious” will premiere its tenth installment this Thursday, May 18 in theaters in Peru. “Fast X” is just the beginning of the end of this saga that has captivated millions of viewers since its release in 2001. But, as much as the public wants it, it seems that they will never be able to see the reunion on the big screen ( or reconciliation) between the protagonist Vin Diesel and his co-star dwayne johnson.

The problems would have started since the actor known as “The Rock” (or “The Rock”) joined the franchise and would have worsened to the point of not appearing in “Fast and Furious 9”. What happened between them so that they can’t even step on the same recording set? Next, we give you all the necessary details.

August 2016

In 2011, the million-dollar franchise released “Fast and Furious 5”, a film that meant the introduction of a new character to the plot: Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson. On August 8, 2016, the actor announced that this would be his last week of filming for the eighth installment of the saga starring Vin Diesel. In his note, the actor assured that his co-stars were “incredible and I love them.”

But what really surprised was the next line of that statement. There, Johnson specified that his relationship with the men of the cast of “Fast and Furious” had been completely different. “Some are true professionals, but others are not. Those are too much chicken to do anything about. When you see the movie in April and it seems like I’m not acting in some scenes and my blood is about to boil, you’ll be right. The good thing is that it suits the film great and fits the character of Hobbs, which blends with my DNA extremely well.”, he claimed. Then, the public began to tempt the options: Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Kristofer Hivju, Scott Eastwood or, clearly, Vin Diesel.

A couple of days later, one of his co-stars chose to speak out about it. We’re talking about actor Tyrese Gibson, who posted a video of Johnson singing “happy birthday” to his little daughter.

“A man wouldn’t be singing his heart out to another’s little angel if he had a problem with his father. If he is going to generalize by saying that he has problems with a male partner, could you be more clear and give names? Of course it should. Calm down, I don’t know who has a problem with him and I don’t have details of what those problems are.”commented the artist in the post that was deleted shortly after.

April 2017

According to reports, for “Fast and Furious 8”, Diesel began to have certain attitudes that annoyed his partner and the team. He began to arrive late, he missed a day of filming and he did not share with the rest of the cast; which had been the trigger for Johnson.

This is how we arrived at the beginning of April 2017. In the middle of the promotional tour for the new movie of the franchise, Diesel affirms that the cast is like a family and it had only been a misunderstanding with ‘The Rock’. “I know he appreciates how much I work on this franchise. In my house, he is Uncle Dwayne. I protect the franchise. And I protect everyone, including Dwayne. I protect him more than he will ever know. And it does not matter. He doesn’t have to know. But I know he appreciates it. He knows. Dwayne only has one Vin in his life. Dwayne Johnson only has one older brother in this movie world and that’s me”, he confessed to USA Today.

But, after the premiere of the eighth film, the world -and especially fans of the saga- would realize that this “union” that Diesel boasted in interviews could not be reflected on the big screen.

April 2018

In conversation with Rolling Stone, Johnson confirmed that he had had a fight with Diesel in the recording studio and, therefore, they had decided not to share a scene. “We had some discussions, including a major face-to-face in my caravan, and I realized that we have fundamental differences on how to understand cinema and collaboration. It took me some time, but I’m glad I see everything clearly now. Whether we work together again or not.”said ‘The Rock’.

Thus, in order not to cross paths with the protagonist on set, the production announced the spin-off “Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw” from 2019. “Right now I’m concentrating on making the spin-off the best it can be (…) I wish him (Diesel) all the best, and I don’t harbor any grudges, everything is clear. Actually, you can delete that last part about ‘I don’t hold a grudge’. Let’s leave it in that everything is clarified “he stressed to the aforementioned medium.

June 2021

Faced with all the attention that the “Fast and Furious” franchise was receiving, Diesel chose to go out and give his version of what happened with Dwayne. “The character of Hobbs was difficult to play. My focus at the time was to offer a lot of tough love to help get acting where it needed to be. As a producer I said, ‘We’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this world of cinema, and the public, by making his character someone they don’t know,’” he told IndieWire.

It is there where the key to what happened between the two could be found. Despite the fact that Johnson had been in Hollywood for a few years before getting involved in “Fast and Furious” and had had important roles within the industry, Vin Diesel would have wanted to remain as the “headhunter” who promoted Dwayne for these statements:

“Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. It’s something I’m proud of, that aesthetic. It cost us a lot of work. It had to come to that and sometimes in that era I could give a lot of tough love. Not in a Fellinian way, but I’d do whatever I had to to get gigs in whatever I’m producing.”, he stated. Weeks later, Dwayne Johnson himself came out to deny it. “I think everyone laughed at that. And she left it like that. And I wish them the best. I wish you the best in ´F&F 9´”.

end of 2021

After five years since this conflict began, both parties came up with new news. For his part, Vin Diesel posted an extensive message through his official Instagram account where he explicitly asked Dwayne to return to the saga for the tenth installment.

“The moment has come. The legacy awaits. I told you years ago that I was going to keep my promise to Paul. I swore that we would reach and manifest the best movie in the finale, which will be 10! (…) or I say with love… You must introduce yourself, do not leave the franchise inactive, you have a very important role to play. Hobbs cannot be played by anyone else. I hope you rise to the occasion and fulfill your destiny.” read in the post released on November 7 of that year.

Dwayne Johnson’s response would come almost two months later, on December 30. In conversation with CNN, ‘The Rock’ he stressed that he had previously stated that he would not return to the franchise and remained firm with his decision. “I said that he would always support the cast and always encourage the success of the franchise, but there was no chance he would come back.”

“Vin’s recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I did not like that she brought up her children in the post, as well as the death of Paul Walker (…) It is unfortunate that this public dialogue has muddied the waters. In any case, I trust the universe of ‘Fast’ and its ability to offer the public the best”he pointed out.

Since then, we have not had any more news about the situation between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. So it is unlikely that the latter will be a participant in the new tape “Fast X” this May 18. But, echoing the request of “Fast and Furious” fans, we hope to see – for the last time – Johnson as Luke Hobbs for the franchise’s farewell.

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