Vin Diesel’s ego allegedly resulted in a restrictive contract for Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham on Fast and Furious set
The Fast and Furious franchise has been around for over two decades and has undergone significant changes over the years. The first three films focused on street racing, while subsequent sequels expanded into other genres, such as heist and espionage. The franchise’s popularity can be attributed to its lead action hero, Vin Diesel, who has been a part of the series since its inception. Over time, there have been several additions to the main cast, such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in 2011 and Jason Statham in 2017.
While the franchise has continued to flourish with these additions, there have been issues behind the scenes. According to sources, Johnson decided to leave the franchise in 2021 due to an ego clash with Diesel. It all started when Johnson called out his co-star in an Instagram post in 2016, praising his female co-stars while criticizing the male actors. Johnson wrote, “My male co-stars, however, are a different story. The ones that don’t are too chicken to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses.”
In 2021, after Johnson announced his departure from the series, Diesel took to Instagram to call him back to the franchise. Diesel even mentioned in the post that his kids refer to Johnson as “Uncle Dwayne” in the house and also referenced the late Paul Walker’s death. He wrote, “I told you years ago that I was going to fulfill my promise to Pablo. I swore that we would reach and manifest the best Fast in the finale that is 10.”
However, Johnson wasn’t pleased with this post and felt that Diesel was trying to manipulate him emotionally. He wrote, “I didn’t like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker’s death. Leave them out of it.” Johnson further explained that they had already had a private conversation earlier, and this post was unnecessary.
It seems like Diesel’s ego got in the way when Statham joined the series back in 2017. Diesel felt that Statham landed too many hits on him in a famous fight sequence from Fast and Furious 7. Therefore, he suggested a point system be implemented to ensure he always came out on top in fights. However, this clause didn’t align with Johnson’s interests, so an “equal pain” clause was created to ensure that every man received an equal amount of pain, and none of the three men outright lost a fight. Statham never had any issues with his co-stars, but the “equal pain” clause was still added to his contract.
Fast X will be the 10th installment of the series and will be released in May later this year. Johnson has refused to be a part of the movie and will not be returning to the franchise. Jason Momoa will play the main antagonist in the movie.