Last month, F9 star Vin Diesel spoke about his well-publicised feud with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson during an interview, suggesting that the animosity stemmed from him attempting to get a better performance out of his costar.
“My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be," Diesel explained. "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," he continued. "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.”
The Bloodshot actor's words were pretty much derided by all, and it seems Johnson found his comments just as funny as the rest of us!
When asked for his response by THR, the Black Adam actor said, “I laughed and 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.”
Johnson's Jungle Cruise costar Emily Blunt couldn't resist weighing in, adding: “Just thank God he was there. Thank God. He carried you through that.”
The Rock put the discussion to rest with a single word: “Felliniesque."
Johnson didn't return for the latest installment in the franchise, but he did appear to put his beef with Diesel to rest in an Instagram post shortly after the release of Hobbs and Shaw in 2019. With two Fast and Furious movies still to come, fans were hoping he might reprise the role of Hobbs down the line, but something tells us that's not going to happen now!