Vin Diesel Says He ‘Protected’ Dwayne Johnson Through Feud
Vin Diesel has been keeping the details of his alleged feud with Dwayne Johnson under wraps, but he finally briefly acknowledged the alleged war in a recent interview. Diesel said, as a producer of the Fast and Furious franchise, he has done everything to protect the Fast and Furious family, including Johnson.
“I protect the franchise. I protect everybody including Dwayne,” Vin Diesel said according to his interview with USA Today. “I protected Dwayne more than he’ll ever know. And it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t have to know. But he appreciates it. He knows it.”
Vin also said that in his house, The Rock is known as “Uncle Dwayne” and despite any differences Diesel and Johnson may have had recently, he is “always rooting” for his Fast and Furious co-star.
What exactly happened between Johnson and Diesel is still a mystery. Following the wrap up of production of Fate of the Furious, the eighth Fast and Furious film, which opens in theaters next weekend, Dwayne Johnson had taken to Instagram to release a video commending his female co-stars but commenting that when it came to his male costars, “some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t.”
Rumors from the set indicated Dwayne was referring to Vin Diesel, and a few days after The Rock’s post, Vin took to social media himself to say that everything was okay and it would all be revealed in good time. So was there an actual fight brewing between Diesel and Johnson or was something else going on?
Diesel’s on-screen love interest, Michelle Rodriguez, dismissed the alleged feud as two friends who were as close as brothers just having one of those family fights. And Vin’s fellow Furious brothers, Scott Eastwood and Jason Statham, chose to stay pretty mum on the subject. Still, there are other theories floating out there as to why this feud might have occurred.
One theory is that Vin Diesel is still dealing with the sudden death of his friend and co-star Paul Walker. Being reunited with the cast and playing a role without the support of his friend might be a little more than Diesel could handle. Perhaps Vin had reached the “anger” part of the stages of grief and some of Diesel’s angst was getting projected onto the rest of the cast.
Some wondered if the alleged feud between Diesel and Johnson was just Dwayne’s way of using his wrestling showmanship to promote the new Fast and Furious movie, as the plot was revealed for the film, it also became apparent that Vin Diesel’s character betrays his movie family in the latest installment. Perhaps Dwayne Johnson is simply a method actor who harnessed real life animosity toward Vin Diesel to make his performance seem legitimate.
The Rock did address the alleged feud with Vin several months later, and while he didn’t confirm he was talking about Vin Diesel, he didn’t deny it either. According to an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Johnson also seemed to elude to the fact that while he doesn’t mince words, it could’ve been an attempt to promote Furious 8.
“I was very clear with what I said. I’ve been in the game a long time. Would Universal (Pictures) have preferred that didn’t happen? Sure, we talked about it. The irony is after that and as they do their tracking and all their analysis, the interest shot through the roof to a whole other level,” Johnson said. And considering that both he and Vin Diesel are listed as producers of the film, his coyness seems to indicate that using his rage to promote the film might have been his motive all along.
Though Vin Diesel has been nothing but complimentary in regard to Dwayne Johnson since The Rock’s rant, Diesel did admit that there is one quality that might make it difficult for Vin and Dwayne to see eye-to-eye all of the time, however.
“It’s not always easy being an alpha. And it’s two alphas,” Vin Diesel explained more in his USA Today interview. “Being an alpha is sometimes a pain in the (butt).”
[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.]
