Dwane “The Rock” Johnson is, without a question, the most successful wrestler-turned-actor who made it big in WWE and the silver screen alike. Today, The Rock is recognized as one of the highest-paid actors in the world. The Great One first forayed into the acting industry in 2001 when he landed the role of “The Scorpion King” in The Mummy Returns.
He then played the lead in the spin-off, The Scorpion King, and the rest is history. It’s safe to bet that WWE could not contain his success as he set out to embark on his acting career full-time. By nature, The Rock is known to be one of the kindest human beings on the planet. With a huge fan following, The Brahma Bull is adored by his fans from across the world.
However, it’s no secret that the 8-time WWE Champion did have a heated relationship with his co-star Vin Diesel. Out of his many super-hit films, The Rock became the staple of the Fast and Furious franchise alongside Vin Diesel.
In 2011, The Rock acted in Fast Five as a federal agent, Luke Hobbs. He further reprised his role in Fast & Furious 6 in 2013, Furious 7 in 2015, and the Fate of the Furious in 2017. His most recent role was in the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw in 2019 where he worked with Jason Statham.
What caused the rift between The Rock and Vin Diesel?
In 2016, on the set of The Fate of The Furious, Vin Diesel arrived late for shooting. This led The Rock to take to his Instagram to post a now-deleted post criticizing his male co-stars. In the post, The Rock praised his female co-stars, but did not harbor the same opinion for his male co-stars. He further called them names and claimed they were unprofessional. This was a clear dig at Vin Diesel.
On the other hand, Vin Diesel admitted in an interview with Men’s Health that he approached Luke Hobbs’ character with “tough love” as the producer of the project. This may have likely ruffled the feathers of The Great One.
“It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character,” Diesel said. “My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be.” Said Diesel.
In November 2021, Diesel shared a picture of the characters from The Fate of The Furious on his Instagram and implored his “little brother” The Rock to return to the franchise and play the role in the Fast & Furious Finale.
However, The Rock gave Diesel the cold shoulder and deemed Diesel’s post as “manipulation” and did not like the fact that he mentioned his (Vin Diesel’s) children and Pablo (Paul Walker) in the post. In an interview with CNN, The Rock revealed that he told Diesel “Directly” that he had no interest in returning to the franchise.
“Vin’s recent public post was an example of his manipulation. 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. We had spoken months ago about this and came to a clear understanding,” he said.
The Rock regrets addressing the issue on Instagram in hindsight
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Johnson disclosed that he regretted addressing the issue on Instagram, even though he meant it. While it is conspicuous that his thinking at the time was impulsive, The Rock likes to deal with such things away from the public eye.
Johnson stated that it was not in his “DNA” to conduct himself the way he did by addressing the issue publicly. He also added that after having a “good chat” with Diesel in his trailer, he realized that they are “two separate ends of the spectrum”.
“It wasn’t my best day, sharing that. I shouldn’t have shared that. Because at the end of the day, that goes against my DNA. I don’t share things like that. And I take care of that kind of bulls**t away from the public,” said Johnson.
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