It looks like the feud between
Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson isn’t over: Diesel, a producer of “The Fate of the Furious,” killed plans for a scene at the very end of the mega-sequel that would have featured his co-stars, Johnson and
Jason Statham, insiders exclusively told TheWrap.
The scene — described as a short “tag” to the story — featured The Rock’s character, Luke Hobbs, and
Statham‘s character, Deckard, who develop a rapport over the course of the film.
“They had early screenings where Johnson and Statham popped so much on-screen together that they were looking at doing a spinoff,” one insider said.
The tag would have kept their banter going — but Diesel intervened, according to people close to the production.
Producer
Neal Moritz had the tag filmed without Diesel’s knowledge, the insiders said. When executive producer Samantha Vincent, Diesel’s sister, learned of the scene and told Diesel, he became enraged, according to the insiders.
They said Diesel then called the film’s studio, NBC Universal, to explosively air his grievances. The studio had all the theatrical prints recalled and cut the scene, the insiders said.
Another insider put it more diplomatically, saying that the sequence was initially shot as bonus content for home entertainment release. When studio executives and filmmakers reviewed the sequence that included Johnson and Statham, they “loved it,” but ultimately decided not to include it in the theatrical release because “the sequence would make for a better opportunity somewhere else,” the insider said.
Representatives for Moritz, Diesel, Statham, and Johnson did not respond to requests for comment. Representatives for the studio declined to comment on the scene.
How the fukk did we get here.
