Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says he “laughed hard” when he heard comments his former Fast & Furious co-star Vin Diesel made about their time on set together.
The former wrestler, who is currently the highest-paid actor on the planet, joined the hit franchise for 2011’s Fast Five, and has gone on to appear in Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate Of The Furious and the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw.
However, there have been numerous reports of tension between Dwayne and his co-star ever since he joined the hugely successful film series.
The latest came when Vin Diesel, a producer on the franchise, attempted to take credit for Dwayne’s turn in the Fast Five shoot, claiming his “tough love” approach was needed in order to get his performance “where it needed to be”.
“It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character,” Vin Diesel told Men’s Health last month. “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. 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 Fellini-esque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”
Responding to his former co-star’s comments this week, Dwayne said he “laughed hard” when he heard them.
“I laughed and I laughed hard,” Dwayne told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think everyone had a laugh at that. And I’ll leave it at that.”
He then confirmed he won’t be returning to the franchise, adding: “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.”
In the same interview, Dwayne’s Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt went on to joke: “Just thank God [Diesel] was there. Thank God. He carried you through that.”
“Fellini-esque,” he added.
Dwayne had previously expressed his frustration with male co-stars during the production of The Fate Of The Furious in 2016, with many speculating he was referring to Vin Diesel
“Some conduct themselves as stand-up men and true professionals, while others don’t,” he said at the time.
“The ones that don’t are too chicken shit to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling – you’re right.”