Just when you thought the long-running feud between Fast & Furious stars Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson was over, the bald-headed alpha males are back at it again. Fans rejoiced when it looked as though the feud was publicly put to bed, opening the door for Luke Hobbs to return in some capacity for the tenth and eleventh installments that are set to bring the mainline Fast Saga to a close.
Unfortunately, Diesel appears to have opened up another can of worms, after he took credit for Johnson’s performance as the hulking DSS agent. When asked about their offscreen rivalry, the longtime Dominic Toretto put it all down to tough love, saying that he deliberately antagonized his opposite number in order to draw out a more realistic portrayal befitting of a man being stretched to breaking point by a rogue band of outlaws and criminals.
During a new interview to promote upcoming Disney blockbuster Jungle Cruise, Johnson was asked directly about Diesel’s comments, and while he was as diplomatic as ever in his response, it doesn’t sound like he’s ready to forgive and forget just yet.
“I laughed hard. I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I’ll leave it at that. And that I’ve wished them well. I wish them well on Fast 9. And 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.”
Diesel’s claims already contradicted Johnson’s version of events, which pointed his ire in the direction of purported unprofessionalism, so he was always likely to address the matter head-on. The bad news is that his wording certainly makes it sound as though he won’t be part of Fast & Furious 10 or 11, even if a Hobbs & Shaw sequel remains in development behind the scenes at Universal, so it’ll be interesting to see if the franchise’s leading man and producer pushed the boat out to strike an agreement and Johnson back into the fold to give the people what they want.