2001's "The Fast and the Furious" found major success by all accounts, and in the years since,
the franchise it spawned has more than left its mark on Hollywood. It has made several big-screen
stars, taken in boatloads of money, — over $6 billion, in fact — and made front-page news on
more than one occasion. One of the strongest examples of this phenomenon is the bitter
feud between two of the series' biggest names, Vin Diesel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. It took hold
of the media several years ago, and has seemingly reemerged on the road to the premiere of "F9."
In an interview with Men's Health, Diesel was asked about his experience
working with Johnson in previous "Fast and Furious" installments. More specifically,
he discussed the part he played in influencing Johnson's performance as Luke Hobbs.
Diesel said, noting that he went the extra mile to make Hobbs come off as an in-your-face,
hard-hitting character. and that he's proud of the final product,
"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."
At first glance, this may just sound like Vin Diesel
explaining an unorthodox method to get Dwayne Johnson's portrayal of Luke Hobbs just right.
But when you consider their personal history and various reports from their time
working on "Fast and Furious" films together, Diesel's 2021 statement
is completely recontextualized. Buckle up, let’s ride through their rocky relationship.
This story begins on August 8th, 2016, when Johnson made a since-deleted Instagram post
to voice his displeasure with someone on the "Fate of the Furious" set. He outed an unnamed
person for acting unprofessional and not backing up their behavior,
clarifying that he was on good terms with most of the cast and crew otherwise. He wrote,
"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."
Naturally, this opened up speculation over who he's referring to.
Even more naturally, various news outlets ran with this developing story and spread
the common belief that Vin Diesel was the person Johnson was not-so-subtly pointing the finger at.
According to TMZ, the two parties met up for a “secret meeting” on August 9th, 2016, in hopes
of putting their anger to rest, adding that the "Fate of the Furious" cast was unhappy with
Johnson for causing a stir at the tail end of the shoot. Apparently, the clash stemmed from Diesel's
position as a producer and his penchant for making changes that drew the ire of his co-star.
Later, an anonymous source close to the project told People that the tension between the actors
had been on the rise for months. A common complaint was Johnson's apparent lack of
punctuality, sometimes not appearing at all and stalling production. This angered Diesel,
but he was far from absolved of any wrongdoing. Other reports claimed he would engage in similar
behavior, even locking himself in his trailer during the filming of "Furious 7."
As word of the budding rivalry began to spread,
Johnson hopped back on Instagram to try and quell any further rumors about him,
Diesel, or anyone else connected to the "Fast and Furious" name. Once again addressing the
on-set animosity but highlighting that the ability to work past it is what really matters.
"And like with any team – that's a family – there's gonna be conflict.
Family is gonna have differences of opinion and fundamental core beliefs.
To me, conflict can be a good thing, when its followed by great resolution."
Come August 19th, Vin Diesel took to Facebook to speak directly on the subject,
showing his appreciation for the fans for their support and letting them know that,
"Without you, I would not be doing Fast 8."
He then detailed their involvement in Johnson landing the Hobbs role, to begin with, revealing,
"We gave the role that was originally written for Tommy Lee Jones,
we gave it to Dwayne, and he shined in it."
It seems all that “sunny” chatter didn’t make it all the way to Johnson.
He made a post of his own that same day on Instagram. He announced he'd
wrapped up on "The Fate of the Furious" with a caption thanking numerous people
involved in making the project a reality. Guess who he didn’t mention? Yup: Vin Diesel.
Though few doubted Johnson and Diesel weren't at odds, their fellow "Fate of the Furious" star,
Michelle Rodriguez, set the record straight. She told People in September 2016:
"Any human being who knows what men are like knows to stay out
[of those] situations and let them figure it out."
Nevertheless, she clarified that the two were friends even in the face of
their heated conflict and would put aside their differences sooner rather than later.
Months later, the press tour for "Fate of the Furious" was in full swing
and Diesel expressed his love and appreciation for Johnson. He told USA Today on April 7th, 2017,
"I don't think the world really realizes how close we are,
in a weird way. In my house, he's Uncle Dwayne."
Two days later on Entertainment Tonight, Johnson posited that his issues with Diesel boiled down
to "different philosophies" and that the most important thing at that juncture was
the film itself. With that, TMZ reported on April 18th that the two were once again
on good terms and that their beef was officially squashed.
With all of this backstory in mind, could Vin Diesel's most
recent quip about "The Rock" and his acting abilities reopen old wounds?
You can bet that Johnson’s cooking up a response for sure - we can practically smell it now.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Looper videos about acting rivals
are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don’t miss a single one.