A former co-star was on to something when he aired out Vin Diesel about his on-set behavior. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reportedly exited the Fast & Furious franchise after butting heads with the film’s lead. The basis of Johnson’s complaints was documented in episode 5, “Revenge of the Divos,” on Pabulum Entertainment’s countdown series Ten Out Of 1O.
Watch the Full Episode of “Revenge of the Divos” Here
Even before Johnson got a taste of what Diesel was cooking, a few sources had shared the same sentiment about Diesel’s work ethic. An alleged brief flame of his, Karrine Steffans, shared in her book Confessions of a Video Vixen that Diesel was quite an entitled actor who did the minimal but demanded so much.
Now, a bomb has been dropped that Justin Lin, director of the successful franchise since Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, has reportedly dropped out of the upcoming film Fast X due to Diesel’s challenging behavior.
Universal Pictures and Diesel, who serves as producer on the storied franchise, had burdened Lin, deemed the scribe for this installment, with several “unorthodox” changes, including cutting the shoot of a major scene due to its location being near the Russian and Ukraine war. Several rewrites and a vacant casting for the villain to play opposite Diesel piled on to the last-minute loose ends.
Lin and Diesel allegedly clashed when they had a “major disagreement” on April 23 where Diesel presented the director with new notes, according to THR. But the studio denies that there were any confrontations between Lin and Diesel, saying that “any creative differences leading to Justin Lin’s exit were with the studio.”
The studio settled with Lin and kept him on as producer. Lin officially made an announcement of his departure on April 26.
“With the support of Universal, I have made the difficult decision to step back as director of Fast X,” Lin said in the statement.
In turn, Louis Leterrier of Transporter and Clash of the Titans fame is onboard to fill Lin’s shoes and direct. To date, the Fast & Furious franchise had grossed nearly $6 billion. In any case, money usually talks, but for Lin, he rather have peace of mind.
The latest installment is set for a May 19, 2023 release.
