Let's face it. If you were making a list of the most macho male actors in Hollywood, Vin Diesel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would loom large. They have worked together in four of the Fast & Furious films. Talk about two huge egos colliding!
Apparently, they didn't get along at all. A huge series of feuds broke out, with social media blasts and insults abounding.
It got so bad that at one point, they could not even be in the same scene together. Peace would break out temporarily, only to be replaced by another round of bickering and insults.
The Rock has been the most vocal in his complaints. If you are associated with the Fast & Furious franchise you can either be a Dwayne Johnson fan or a Vin Diesel groupie. But you have to choose. Most vote for the Dwayne Johnson ticket.
So what really went on between Vin Diesel and busy Dwayne Johnson? From the very beginning, it was clear they didn't like one another. But, in the end, it went on to blossom into an all-out public feud. Read on.
2016: That Instagram Rant
Vin Diesel has been with the Fast & Furious franchise since its beginning in 2001. It was and is his baby. He plays the supposed bad guy Dom Toretto. The Rock only joined the successful franchise in 2011, playing a Diplomatic Security Services agent named Luke Hobbs. At first, Hobbs is hot on the trail of supposed bad buys Dom Toretto (Diesel) and Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker). Eventually, the three become uneasy allies.
From the very beginning, everyone sensed a tension between The Rock and Vin Diesel. Diesel has played this down, saying it was just a case of two alpha males vying for control. Oh, it was certainly that, but there was a whole lot more going on. It was like they were on separate planets.
So What Was The Problem?
For one thing, some say that Johnson resented how Diesel pretended to have been a great buddy of Paul Walker's. Walker, as the world knows, died in a fiery car crash in 2013. The Rock knew differently and resented Diesel using Paul's memory to his own advantage.
Then in 2016 during the filming of The Fate of the Furious Johnson took to Instagram praising his female co-stars and (most of) his male co-stars, but adding that some of his male counterparts behaved "unprofessionally", calling them "candy a** and chicken s**t.
It didn't take long for people to figure out that the villain of Johnson's piece was none other than Vin Diesel. Tensions were running so high that Diesel and Johnson didn't film any scenes together in The Fate of the Furious. If they were to be in the same scene together they would film their parts separately.
And there were other points of conflict. Reportedly, The Rock has an energetic, driven work ethic. And Diesel? Let's just say he's probably more laid back, dare we say lazy about his work. And it is rumored that, as a producer, he often throws his weight around on the set. Reportedly, most of the cast and crew don't like the guy.
After the filming of The Fate of the Furious, The Rock told Rolling Stone that because of the "ill will" between Vin Diesel and himself, he doubted he would do any more Fast & Furious films.
Well, he did do a 2019 spin-off called Hobbs and Shaw, a so-so movie about how lawman Hobbs (Johnson) forms an uneasy alliance with down and out Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) to fight the forces of cyber evil.
After the spin-off, a miraculous thing happened. The Rock took to Instagram again. But that time, he actually thanked Vin Diesel. So, has there been a burying of the hatchets?
We doubt it. Peace may have temporarily broken out, but when we say the guys don't like one another we mean it. And it probably didn't help the relationship when The Rock was named the highest-paid Hollywood actor in 2020. He clocked up $87.5 million that year. And Diesel? He came in 5th. Poor guy. He had to scrape by on $54 million.
But Diesel is winning the battle of the box office, with the Fast & Furious films regularly grossing $1 billion-plus. Hobbs and Shaw only managed a measly $759 million in box office takings.
In any event, if the two guys ever do work together again, their supposed feud will just generate the kind of macho vibe they want to project to the world. As Vin Diesel said, they are simply two alpha males butting heads and trying to take control. And that kind of relationship simply leaves fans wanting more and more of the same. It's all about speed and power, after all, is said and done.