Can you call Dwayne Johnson "little brother" and survive? Vin Diesel thinks he can. This is the
complete timeline of the explosive feud between Hollywood's biggest and baldest action stars.
The year is 2011. A new show called "Game of Thrones" is airing on HBO.
Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" is on top of the charts. And a street racing franchise
called "Fast and Furious" is coming off its most recent successful installment,
the 2009 film "Fast & Furious." But that's nothing compared to the fifth film that's
about to premiere — aptly titled "Fast Five" -– which helps propel the series to become one of the
most successful franchises in history. There are many reasons for the film's stunning success, but
one obvious reason is the addition of former WWE superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to the cast.
"Fast Five" kicks off a golden age for the franchise, feeding into the successes of
"Fast & Furious 6" and "Furious 7." All three films feature The Rock's Luke Hobbs character,
and his onscreen dynamic with Diesel, Paul Walker, and the rest of the cast is compelling. Tragedy
struck the series in the form of Walker's death in 2013, but his friends and co-stars rallied
behind his legacy and pushed forward. The future of the franchise still looked a bit uncertain,
but an eighth core film, "The Fate of the Furious," was announced and entered production.
On August 8, 2016, one week before production wrapped for "The Fate of the Furious,"
Johnson took to Instagram and made a post that he then quickly deleted. In it,
he praised many members of the film's cast and crew while also calling out a few unnamed
people with particularly colorful language. After praising all the women he starred with,
Johnson turned his attention to his male co-stars, saying that
"Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't.
The ones that don't are too chicken s**t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses."
He added that
"When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I'm not acting in
some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling — you're right."
A TMZ report published shortly after the post was made claimed that the man Johnson
was targeting with his pro wrestling style insult was none other than Diesel himself
and that the two actors had major tension on set throughout the production process. On August 10,
Johnson made another Instagram post that seemingly swept his previous frustrations under the rug.
In it, he thanked the whole cast and crew for their hard work and said that
"...like with any team — that's a family — there's gonna be conflict.
Family is gonna have differences of opinion and fundamental core beliefs ... I was raised
on healthy conflict and welcome it. And like any family, we get better from it."
Things, at least for the moment, seemed to have calmed back down.
"We're family. We got a problem, we deal with it together."
Despite Johnson's apparent attempt to squash the beef, the story he'd made
public refused to die down. Diesel shared a vague response to Instagram on August 10,
promising the public that he would, quote, "tell you everything soon."
Costar Michelle Rodriguez then confirmed in an interview with People that there had been tension
between the two, but that she believed they cared about each other and would work it out.
"You never turn your back on family, and I wanna thank you for never turning your back on me."
On August 19, Johnson made another Instagram post after filming had officially wrapped, in which he
thanked many of his costars in the film by name, notably excluding Diesel. Though the insult was by
omission, it seemed clear that whatever had gone on between the two actors was still unresolved,
even if they'd put their differences aside for the sake of the film. Speculation continued
to circulate, but there wasn't any new fuel to pour on the fire for a couple of months.
In a November 19, 2016 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Johnson discussed his initial
post and his dynamic with Diesel. When asked about the comments he'd made, Johnson responded,
"I've been in the game a long time. Would Universal [Pictures] have preferred that
didn't happen? Sure, we talked about it. The irony is after that and as they do their
tracking and all their analysis, the interest shot through the roof to a whole other level."
Johnson's implication seemed to be that, whether or not
it was the original motivation for the post, the publicity generated by his
online feuding only did good things for "The Fate of the Furious." To be fair,
The Rock is a showman, and he came up through a WWE organization where beefing was, and still is,
a huge part of publicity. The actual tension between the two stars likely still existed,
but it seemed as though Johnson was no longer interested in fanning the flames.
"I know you guys are a family. I'm offering you the chance to make that family whole again."
On April 7, 2017 -– just days before "The Fate of the Furious" was released globally -– Diesel
resurrected the previous year's feud in an interview with USA Today. His words sounded
kind-hearted at first glance, but they had a decidedly backhanded quality to them. He said,
"I don't think the world really realizes how close we are, in a weird way. I
know he appreciates how much I work this franchise. In my house, he's Uncle Dwayne."
That's all pretty innocuous,
but Diesel quickly made it clear who he saw as the true alpha in their relationship.
"I protect the franchise. I protect everybody including
Dwayne. I protected Dwayne more than he'll ever know."
And then, he played the little brother card.
"Dwayne has only got one Vin in his life.
Dwayne Johnson only has one big brother in this film world and that's me."
While it's true that Diesel is a few years older than Johnson,
referring to The Rock as a little brother is, in a word, harsh.
"Oh, my, my bad. I'm sorry, I'm just processing. Brother?"
Though Diesel claimed camaraderie with Johnson throughout the interview,
it seemed clear what message he was sending –- there's only one king of "Fast and Furious."
"Ask any racer, any real racer. It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning."
Finally, after months of this back and forth jabbing, "The Fate of the Furious"
premiered. Johnson and Diesel both appeared on the April 8, 2017 red carpet in New York City,
and they addressed their beef in separate interviews with ET.
Johnson said the disagreement had simply been due to them having "different fundamental philosophies
on how you do things." Diesel, in turn, re-emphasized his previous "Uncle Dwayne" remark.
In a different universe, that might have been the end of it. But just like how the
"Fast and Furious" franchise refuses to stop pumping out bombastic films,
the feud between Diesel and The Rock just wouldn't go away. It wasn't long before the
battle heated up again, this time with a third voice entering into the arena.
"This idea of family that is so core to you that it rules your world, it's a biological lie."
On October 4, 2017, "Fast and Furious" costar Tyrese Gibson stepped into Diesel
and Johnson's feud after the announcement that the release date for "F9: The Fast
Saga" had been significantly delayed. Many presumed the delay was mostly due to the
impending spinoff film "Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw," starring Johnson and Jason Statham.
Gibson appeared to believe the same thing, and he didn't hold back in bashing The Rock on Instagram
for, quote, "making the fast and the furious franchise about YOU."
Tyrese ended his post by saying that he was, quote, "just a passionate
film critic," and going hard at Johnson by criticizing his turn in 2017's "Baywatch."
After so many months of Diesel and The Rock subtly going at each other one-on-one, Tyrese's post
stirred things up majorly in the public eye. However, rather than pile on Johnson, Diesel
jumped in with what appeared to be an attempt to squash the beef before it heated up once again.
Two days after Tyrese made his post, Diesel took to Instagram with an even longer statement.
"I know there has been a lot of speculation as to why the Fast 9 release date was pushed. However,
like any vehicle that has run around the globe 8 times, the franchise is in need of maintenance."
As a lead producer on the franchise, it makes sense that Diesel would want "Hobbs & Shaw"
to find success, and his post seemed to show full support for Johnson's spinoff endeavor.
For a while, things seemed to be at peace once again.
In a cover story interview with Rolling Stone in April of 2018, Johnson was once again asked
about the feud with Diesel. Specifically, he was asked whether or not the duo had actually shot
any scenes together for "The Fate of the Furious," which was constructed in such a way that the two
never quite shared the screen. Johnson confirmed this, but he left his reply simple and to the
point, reiterating his past sentiments about them simply having different philosophies on things.
Years later, in an October 2021 interview with Vanity Fair, Johnson explained that not
filming scenes with Diesel was one of his conditions for returning to the franchise.
"I wanted to forgo drama. I thought that that was the best thing to do. For everybody."
That detail seems to confirm that the tension between the two must
have preceded production on "The Fate of the Furious" by a significant amount of time.
After the release of "Hobbs and Shaw," The Rock took to his Instagram page to share an
especially sweaty celebration video. Shot in what appears to be his gym, Johnson thanked the cast,
crew, and fans for making the spinoff film a success and declared how proud he was to
be a part of the "Fast and Furious" franchise. Later in the video, he made a cryptic claim that
"Of course, all roads lead to one thing. I'll be seeing you soon, Toretto."
Johnson didn't appear at all in "F9:
The Fast Saga," which he claimed was due to scheduling conflicts with "Hobbs & Shaw."
For nearly two years, the beef lay dormant, but
it apparently never got squashed for good. On June 22, 2021, Men's Health published a
lengthy profile on Diesel where he once again discussed his relationship with The Rock
"It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character. My approach at the time was
a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be.
I would do anything I'd have to do in order to get performances in anything I'm producing."
Diesel seemed to be implying that his rocky relationship with Johnson was
partially meant to elicit a more compelling performance on screen.
The Rock had one simple thing to say about Diesel's "tough love" comments in a July 21,
2021 piece from The Hollywood Reporter.
"I laughed and I laughed hard. I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I'll leave it at that."
Sadly for fans, Johnson also revealed in that same interview that he has no plans
of returning to the franchise for "Fast and Furious 10" or "Fast and Furious 11."
"I wish them the best of luck on Fast 10 and Fast 11 and the
rest of the Fast & Furious movies they do that will be without me."
After "F9: The Fast Saga" came and went without even a mention of Hobbs,
many fans assumed that they'd seen the last of Johnson in the franchise. However,
that might not actually be the end of Hobbs — if Diesel has anything to say about it.
On November 7, 2021, Diesel took to Instagram once more to ask Johnson to return to "Fast and
Furious." After all that had gone on between them, the post came as a shock to many,
but Diesel was clear about his desire to bring Hobbs back into the fold. Diesel wrote,
"My little brother Dwayne... the time has come. The world awaits the finale of Fast 10."
After some elegant words about the franchise's legacy and a promise he made to Paul Walker,
Diesel ends with a clear call to action:
"Hobbs can't be played by no other. I hope that you rise to the occasion
and fulfill your destiny."
Obviously, a Hobbs return in "Fast and Furious 10" would be great for the overarching story
of the franchise. The character has been a part of the series' most successful films,
and he's a clear fan favorite. Plus, now that John Cena has joined the series as Dom
Toretto's estranged brother Jakob, there's a chance for the two former WWE superstars
to meet in one of history's biggest action franchises. That's an exciting proposition,
but whether or not it will happen is another question entirely.
"You're stronger together. You always were."
As of the making of this video, Johnson himself hasn't responded to Diesel's request
for him to return. However, his longtime business partner Hiram Garcia has spoken
publicly about the matter. In an interview with Screen Rant published on November 14,
2021, Garcia said he hadn't had much chance to speak with The Rock about the idea.
"Look, DJ's the biggest movie star in the world. No one's below trying all attempts and approaches
to try and get him on board. So I appreciate it. You got to take your shot. You never know."
Though a bit condescending in tone, Garcia isn't necessarily wrong in his assessment of the
situation. "Fast and Furious" was certainly a huge launching platform for Johnson's international
stardom, but since then he's worked on building his own franchises like "Jungle Cruise" or "Red
Notice." Getting him back on board with Diesel and the rest of the "Fast and Furious" crew
could be a complicated process, and that's assuming he even wants to come back at all.
Still, there's hope that fans could see Dom and Hobbs side by side once again sometime
down the line. After all, "Fast and Furious" is still a story about family, and as we all know…
"You don't turn your back on family. Even when they do."
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