One of the most highly publicized celebrity fights of recent years in Hollywood has been the Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson conflict. After being in two movies together, it was reported that the duo could no longer even be in the same room during the filming of Fast & Furious 7. Now, with Fast 9 release date approaching fast in the Western world, the Dominic Toretto actor has opened up on the possible reason for the tussle and where it all possibly began.
Fast & Furious is one of the most successful franchises in the world. The series has been able to tap into the Latin culture and also grow exponentially in the Chinese market to billion-dollar grosses in worldwide box office receipt. The franchise is showing no signs of slowing down and at one point it looked as if Vin and Dwayne would take the racing franchise to even bigger heights.
Well, that dream seems to have taken a massive hit as Dwayne Johnson has gone on to star in his own Fast & Furious spinoff franchise, to larger success. This also resulted in a public spat between the former WWE star and other cast members of Fast saga, to the point where Vin and Dwayne were calling each other chicken sh*ts online. There have been some talks as to what happened between the two hulking men, and now Vin has finally lifted the curtain slightly on their conflict.
Vin Diesel Says His Producing “Tough Love” Caused Friction with Dwayne Johnson
After Fast Five was announced almost a decade ago, casting of Dwayne Johnson was announced along with it. The WWE superstar was cast to appear in the movie and form a tandem with Vin Diesel. The Rock was also rising in Hollywood at the time and he was seen as a real box officer booster for existing or bubbling franchises.
It was a nice decision to get Dwayne Johnson to play the law-abiding officer Hobbs, hot on the tails of the Toretto family. Vin Diesel was the star of the movie and he was also a producer for the Fast & Furious franchise which meant he had control almost everything. Being the producer means getting the maximum out of everyone involved in the project while taking care of the cost.
Now it seems Vin’s producer hat was on for too long as he was trying his best to make Fast Five a success. The two actors reportedly clashed on set which got worse in the sixth installment and things came to a head in the seventh movie when The Rock was absent for most of the film. It was also made clear later that the two actors had to be filmed separately even when they were in close proximity of one another in the film.
Also Read: Jurassic World and Fast & Furious Crossover – Chris Pratt Seems Excited! But How Would It Even Work?
Two actors fighting on set is not an uncommon thing, but the fight spilling out into social media with the two leading men calling each other chicken sh*ts is pretty uncommon. Even more uncommon is other cast members getting involved in the fight that, as it appears to be, all about giant egos of two actors. The fight got worse when Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson teamed up to make their own Fast & Furious movie. So, after years of speculation, Vin Diesel finally addressed the root cause, from his perspective, to Men’s Health magazine.
Vin explained, “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. As a producer to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know’ – Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks.”
Dwayne Johnson is a professional and he is a performer who probably does not need a lot of manipulation to get into character. So, for Vin to intentionally be mean and tough is probably not what any actor expects from their co-star. In the end, it all seemed to have worked as The Rock brought his fanbase to the Fast & Furious franchise and helped the series to become what it is today.
Dwayne Johnson himself has had billion-dollar grossing movies under his belt, away from the Fast saga. Though the director of the final three movies said that Hobbs and Shaw are still part of the series, the feud between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel is still ongoing. Vin sounds as if he is ready to bury the hatchet but only time will tell how this saga ends.
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Dominic Toretto Dwayne Johnson Fast & Furious Hobbs Vin Diesel
Last modified: June 23, 2021
