F9: Vin Diesel blames “tough love” for Dwayne Johnson feud

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It's been no secret that Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson haven't always gotten along, and their famous feud has taken a few twists and turns over the years. Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs first appeared in the Fast & Furious franchise in Fast Five, but during the production of The Fate of the Furious, Johnson posted a heated rant on Instagram, saying that "Some [male co-stars] conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't. The ones that don't are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses." While he didn't name names, it later became clear that Vin Diesel was the subject of Johnson's anger.

In a new interview with Men's Health, Vin Diesel noted that the feud may have began due to his own "tough love" approach when it came to getting the best performance out of Johnson.

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.

At the end of the day, Vin Diesel believes his tough love approach worked as as "Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic. 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." I'm sure Dwayne Johnson is going to love that.

The official synopsis for F9:

Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto is leading a quiet life off the grid with Letty and his son, little Brian, but they know that danger always lurks just over their peaceful horizon. This time, that threat will force Dom to confront the sins of his past if he’s going to save those he loves most. His crew joins together to stop a world-shattering plot led by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they’ve ever encountered: a man who also happens to be Dom’s forsaken brother, Jakob (John Cena).

F9 will hit theaters on June 25, 2021, and you can check out a review of F9 from our own JimmyO right here.