Vin Diesel Explains Past Tension With The Rock Over Fast & Furious

Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson are cool with each other these days, but they famously feuded over the Fast franchise and Diesel has weighed in on why. The actor spoke with Men’s Health to promote F9: The Fast Saga which releases this weekend and was asked about the issues between the two that became tabloid fodder for a while.

“It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character,” Diesel said. “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.

“That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic,” he continued. “That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”

The two reportedly had real tensions on the set of The Fate of the Furious, reportedly over decisions Diesel was making as a producer on the film. They have since resolved their issues and Johnson has teased the possibility of Hobbs returning to the main franchise. He and Jason Statham starred in a spinoff in 2019, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, which was a big hit in its own right.