Vin Diesel is going to war with the Producers Guild of America over proper credit on the FAST & FURIOUS franchise. The films have spanned two decades and Diesel is now taking to social media to throw subtle shade at his beef with the PGA.
In a recent social media post, the actor claimed he was, "trying to mitigate a war" between Universal Pictures and the PGA, which he referred to as the "Prejudice Guild of America." Diesel has since deleted the "prejudice" part of his caption but thanks to the power of the internet, nothing is gone forever and we have an image of his original post along with an embed of what the post currently says:
So where is all this hostility coming from? Diesel, who has played Dominic Toretto in all of the eight installments thus far except for one, has received producer credits on the movies since 2009. Despite that credit, Diesel hasn't acquired the Producers Guild of America’s mark of distinction, which symbolizes that a producer has been amongst the major contributors in the making of the film. The star has urged for the producer’s mark for every single installment but was denied by PGA, thus Diesel venting his frustrations via his Instagram post.
According to "Variety", the PGA credit not only looks good on the big screen but it also allows the movies to be eligible for Academy Award nominations. Apparently Diesel has forgotten that this multi-billion dollar franchise is pure popcorn entertainment and not the work of Martin Scorsese and actually has championed past installments for recognition at the Oscars. It's believed he wants to do the same for FAST & FURIOUS 9, which was originally slated for Memorial Day weekend this year before being shifted to April 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The "Variety" story points to unnamed sources that believe Diesel hasn't done enough to earn the seal of approval from the PGA. These unnamed sources claim that the actor often shows up late to the set, and generally has a typical "superstar" attitude once he arrives. This kind of behavior can cause delays and waste time on very pricey projects such as the FAST films, something that anyone wanting that distinctive mark from the PGA, should know. While this can't be officially confirmed, it does jive with past stories that have leaked about Diesel on the FAST set which includes some public disputes with co-star Dwayne Johnson, who began his run with the franchise in FAST FIVE. The end result was the two performers not physically sharing scenes in THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, while Johnson will be missing in action in FAST & FURIOUS 9, opting to hop onto the FAST spinoff FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW. The PGA had this to say in a statement:
"It is the policy of the Producers Guild not to comment on individual arbitrations. The purpose of the Producers Mark is to protect the integrity of the 'Produced By' credit. A panel of experienced producers reviews anonymous firsthand accounts from filmmakers and key crew in order to determine who performed a major portion of the producing functions on a single film."
There is no denying how much Diesel has championed the franchise and I believe he could very well be the heart and soul of it. I also believe you can only hear so many of the same stories about someone before they have an air of truth and Diesel's behavior on various FAST sets has been well-documented, with his tiffs with Johnson being the most public. I'm sure there is a sense of ownership when it comes to this franchise and since he has been there since the beginning, Diesel may feel some kind of entitlement. For now, it doesn't look like Vin Diesel is going to get his PGA credit by calling them out on social media and I'm fairly certain someone with a lot of power at Universal Pictures likely told him to delete the headline-grabbing caption so this all could remain somewhat professional. The FAST & FURIOUS franchise might tout being all about family in the films, but there is clearly some bad blood in the real-life family behind the scenes.
Was Diesel wrong to take to social media to make his point? Do YOU think he deserves his PGA mark?