Dwayne Johnson reveals that the Fast & Furious crew thanked the star for calling out co-star/producer Vin Diesel's behavior on set.
Dwayne Johnson reveals that the Fast & Furious crew thanked the star for calling out co-star/producer Vin Diesel's behavior on set. Diesel has led the action franchise since its 2001 inception as Dominic Toretto, leader of initially a street racing and truck hijacking gang who later transitions towards global heists and espionage. Johnson would join the Fast & Furious series with 2011's Fast Five, the franchise's first major tonal shift, as U.S. Diplomatic Secret Service agent Luke Hobbs, who is hunting down Toretto and his crew.
Alliances would change in the subsequent sequels as Toretto and Hobbs would work together to bring down some of the biggest international threats, namely the Shaw brothers, who would also join the good side. Though Shaw would later return to the mainline Fast & Furious franchise with a post-credits appearance in F9: The Fast Saga, Hobbs will not be making his way back anytime soon, sticking to the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw franchise led by Johnson and Jason Statham. With a few years behind the inciting split between he and Diesel, Johnson is offering new details on their feud.
Johnson recently spoke with Vanity Fair to discuss his celebrated career and his large roster of upcoming projects. In reflecting on his feud with Diesel, Johnson revealed the crew of The Fate of the Furious found various ways to thank him for calling out the star/producer's behavior. See what Johnson revealed below: “It caused a firestorm. Yet interestingly enough…[it was] as if every single crew member found their way to me and either quietly thanked me or sent me a note."
Johnson and Diesel's feud has become one of the more infamous in Hollywood for the occasional fire stoking from one or the other in the years since. While Johnson has since expressed his regret for the dispute between he and his co-star going public, it is interesting to hear the Black Adam star reveal that the crew of the Fast & Furious franchise found ways to thank him for standing up to Diesel. The other stars of the series have largely remained silent in the public regarding the two's clashing of heads, which makes Johnson's note of them quietly thanking him or sending notes understandable.
The Fast & Furious crew thanking Johnson for standing up to Diesel also lends some credence to the speculation that the latter's position as producer has seen him build too large an ego on the set of the films. Diesel certainly wouldn't be the only star to utilize their producer powers to seize control of a film, with Tom Cruise notably having taken similar steps on the failed Mummy reboot and Mission: Impossible sequels. With Johnson having expressed a few months back he wishes the crew well on the final two mainline installments, one can hope a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw will finally get off the ground in the near future.