Vin Diesel asks “little brother” Dwayne Johnson to come back to Fast And Furious
Of course, nobody involved in CandyAssGate can resist passive aggressively dragging somebody
Aux News Dwayne Johnson
Peace in our time. Is it really possible? If we’re talking about Vin Diesel vs. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a.k.a. the feud known as “CandyAssGate,” the answer is… probably not. The years-long back-and-forth has been too protracted, too passive aggressive to ever come back from, especially when Johnson has recently said that he’s not going back to the Fast & Furious family and that the next Hobbs & Shaw movie will be the “antithesis” of a Fast movie. And yet, Vin Diesel extended an olive branch to “little brother” Dwayne Johnson today, proving that there may still be some hope for reconciliation.
Diesel’s message to Johnson came in the form of a public Instagram post that Johnson is not tagged in, and in it he refers to Johnson as his “little brother” and says that his family thinks of him as “Uncle Dwayne.” With Fast 10 coming up, Diesel says it’s time to make good on a promise he made to Pablo (Diesel’s nickname for Paul Walker) and do everything he can to make Fast 10 the best finale for the series—which means burying the hatchet and bringing Johnson’s Hobbs back to the mainline Fast movies.
Diesel says Johnson still has a “very important role to play” and that Hobbs can’t be played by anyone other than him. (Counterpoint: Recasting Hobbs this late in the series, after everything that happened behind the scenes between these two guys, would be absolutely hilarious.)
Of course, this wouldn’t be another installment in the CandyAssGate saga without some candyassing, which comes in the form of Diesel talking down to Johnson a bit and preemptively questioning his commitment to a thing he already said he doesn’t want to do. Diesel says that, if Hobbs coming back is going to work, then Johnson “must show up” and can’t “leave the franchise idle.” He also says he hopes Johnson will “rise to the occasion,” and… there’s no way in hell that’s going to work, right?
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For real, I though this was a joke when I saw a screenshot of the post.
I cannot describe how much I hate both of their jackets. I can’t decide which is worse, the purple velvet sport coat or the varsity jacket that’s a print of a double rider.
The fact that the purple velvet one is so close, yet not quite the same, to the one Johnson is wearing in the promo shot behind him seals the deal as that one being worse for me — despite Diesel’s jacket being objectively more heinous.
I can take ‘em off yer hands if you really don’t want them!
For real, I though this was a joke when I saw a screenshot of the post.Technically, you are still correct.
I wish these enormous, muscular men would kiss and make up.
I bet ya do
I say cast Danny DeVito as Hobbes.
I was trying to think of good joke recastings but forget ‘em, this wins.
I’d pick someone taller for Hobbes. He’s the right height for Calvin, but not the right age. Personally, I’m surprised Watterson agreed to a Calvin and Hobbes movie after all these years.
I once entitled a college essay “From Calvin to Hobbes: the progression of predestination” and thought myself extremely clever. Later I learned that Watterson actually named the characters after John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes and realized that I wasn’t as clever as I thought.
With the subjects Calvin learned in first grade in comparison to what I did in the same grade, this clip from MIB had me thinking two things: “That was funny as hell” and “I hope Calvin never comes across Agent J on his way home from school.”
“What fun is being ‘cool’ if you can’t wear a sombrero?”
– Hobbes
Speaking of DeVito movies, I would love the Rock and Vin to be cast in a remake of Twins, and watch them argue about who plays the Arnold character and who plays the DeVito character. (I think we know the answer)
I say they cast a stuffed tiger and be done with it.
I was thinking Kevin Hart , but this is better.*( I’ve never seen a F&F movie , so its possible Hart already plays someone in them , if so , screw it he can play both roles)
This is like when people who aren’t very smart, but think they’re geniuses try to manipulate other people. Reminds me of this dude who I worked with that kept insisting his “lawyer” was looking at important documents… but when pressed for the name of his “lawyer” this guy would always try to change the subject. Just laughably transparent and dumb.
Had a phone job where one of our “special” customers would call in and pretend to be his lawyer, his wife, random neighbors – always using the same high pitched nasal falsetto voice and descending quickly into obscenities and completely insane demands.Good times. You start to wonder “where is the medication at and why didn’t they take it today”.
Did he, by any chance, begin these calls with, “Hey, Jerky”?
Vin Diesel IS Brett Weir
coming this Christmas…
I know I’d be embarrassed to talk about my lawyer if I hired Hyper Chicken to represent me. “Your Honor, the prosecution roosts. BUCKBAWK!”
Peace in our time. Is it really possible?Be careful with this line of thinking because do you want Ultron?Because that’s how you get Ultron.
Vin Diesel was Superman at one point. Why not Ultron? Marvel films tend to be more entertaining than DC.
The fact that these two seem intent on reminding the public about this dull feud every couple of weeks makes me think it’s definitely a PR stunt.
It’s way too boring to be actual kayfabe at this point.
Well neither gentleman can ever be seen as losing so of course it’s gonna be boring.
It wasn’t Johnson, but rather in the fight with Statham, they had someone counting the punches to make sure it was evenly split.
It’s all three of them (Diesel, Johnson, Statham) per WSJ.
It is. It always has been.
If Johnson shows up in FF 10, then absolutely. If he doesn’t, the “despite being built like monster trucks, we actually are this petty and insecure” possibility has a bit more credence.
With the depressing news surrounding the Rust movie and the Travis Scott concert, I’ll take this ridiculous feud as an attempt at comic relief.
Fair! I’m coming out on the opposite end — the continuous conscious awareness of how callous these people are with ordinary people’s lives while insisting on their own comfort and safety is making this hit different.
Honestly. If they’re serious about this shit just have a fight and be done with it. The fact that they haven’t tells me they’re both candyasses.
Even worse is this is nowhere near entertaining as Hugh Jackman vs Ryan Reynolds or even Jimmy Kimmel vs Matt Damon
I like that Diesel throws a childish barb at Johnson every once in a while and it’s “these guys need to stop it”, not “Vin needs some help getting the sand out of his vagina”.
This tap dance is old, and it’ll be even more aggravating until Hobbes somehow magically appear$ in Fast 10: Part 2 or whatever it’s called.
Fast 10 your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. But it will be Fast 10-ating to watch.
The best part of the post is how obviously Vin edited it to make himself bigger than the Rock
Can somebody separate these two?
And can I get one of those jackets?
In order: Maybe.And for your own good, no.
2001: The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin damn near kill themselves in a WrestleMania classic. 2021: Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel engage in a lame war of words over a franchise that’s 90% car stunts.
I wish it were still 90% car stunts.
It’s a bold move on Vin Diesel’s part. I wonder if it will work.
Ugh. I actually side with Johnson in all this. Diesel clearly has let the success of these movies go to his head and sees himself as the defacto head of the franchise. (And even if he *is* the head star, there’s a difference between exemplifing it and not reminding everyone through rridiculous behavior.)I was originally willing to assume it was two muscleheads displaying diva behavior but then Diesel had the audacity to say, when talking about the initial fight with Johnson, that it was a Fellini based attempt to get a better performance out of the latter.That’s what clinched it for me that Diesel is absurd in the worst way and clearly threatened by Johnson. I mean it’s the Fast and the Furious franchise. Have several seats.And referring to Johnson as his “little brother” is passive aggressive condescension at it’s most transparent (and obnoxious).
I thought the same thing about the ‘little brother’ comment..and I still kinda do…but Vin Diesel is actually five years older than Johnson (54 to 49). (Plus, I’m kinda always on Vin Diesel’s side because he’s just a swole nerdlinger, so take what I say about him with a grain of salt)
As a side note…Rue McClanahan was only 51 in the first season of The Golden Girls. Imagine if the first few seasons of The Golden Girls had Blanche dating Vin Diesel. Imagine it.
Diesel has F/F and Groot. That’s it. Joe Manganiello even took his D&D thing from him. 100% he’s fucking green with envy when he looks over the Dwayne Johnson empire.
You are probably right about the envy but Riddick is a great a character and a decent franchise. I actually think Johnson is the better actor, but as a leading man most of his catalog is mediocre, whereas Diesel has been the lead in gloriously trashy schlock classics (and a legitimately classic video game . He’s had three successful franchises — without Jumanji, Johnson would have no franchises (meaning at least 2 movies in the series. Would people rather watch Johnson? I think so. But I don’t love his movies, I just like him.
I agree about Riddick, and I bet he was in a much better mood in 2013, lol.No shade on Diesel’s career, he’s sold a lot of tickets, and made a damn sight more money than I ever will, but he acts like it’s killing him that he didn’t blow up in the same way Johnson did. Ah well, rich people problems, amirite?
“You are probably right about the envy but Riddick is a great a character and a decent franchise.”
Riddick is a decent character, but that franchise is confused garbage. Pitch Black was great, that’s where it should’ve ended.
I have no skin in this war of the gym-bunnies, but The Iron Giant clinches it for Diesel – Johnson just has Moana, and really, how much of that movie can you even remember?
Wait, has nobody in this thread actually watched the Jumanji movies? Was the “cast Danny DeVito as Agent Hobbs” thing way up earlier not a sly reference to Johnson doing the inverse?
All of it, but I have two young kids. I’ve never seen The Iron Giant.
To the extent that I take a side in this feud, Vin Diesel has done a creditable job of acting in Find Me Guilty (and in Saving Private Ryan, although that wasn’t that big of a role). And that Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Riddick were actually enjoyable popcorn movies.
The Rock? He had a funny bit part in a very funny movie The Other Guys.
Look, if someone told me from here on out I could only watch the movies of one of these two, I’d pick Vin “Candy Ass” Diesel in a heartbeat. It wouldn’t even be close.
Also, I don’t get “Candy Ass” as an insult. It combines two of the things I love most in this world.
100%. I think Johnson may be the better actor — he has more range and a knack for displaying vulnerability Diesel lacks— and appears to be more charismatic as a star. But imo Diesel has truly good, memorable popcorn movies where he was the leading man. Johnson’s vehicles are uniformly mediocre, his best movies have been ones where he is a supporting or ensemble player (I do have a fondness for The Rundown).Part of the reason may be that Diesel has partnered with mainstream filmmakers that are more adventurous and quirky than the ones Johnson teamed with. I think the other reason is Diesel’s screen persona, the outlaw, where Johnson is always playing a variation on a straight arrow. Outlaws, generally speaking, are more fun. Hobbs worked so well, and stole the spotlight from Diesel, because Johnson played him as a villain, an anti-hero , a lawman so unpredictable, unbending and intensely violent that he was practically an outlaw. I think he realized some fans like that bad guy/heel energy and is carrying that lesson into Black Adam.
The Rundown is incredible and The Rock is perfect in it… but it’s Christopher Walken and Seann William Scott who make it truly memorable.And Ernie Reyes Jr. of course!
I was surprised that Reyes Jr. didn’t get a big career boost as an action star from that role.
That fight is so awesome!
Because you’re an idiot?
“(I do have a fondness for The Rundown).”
And it appears that’s LITERALLY all you know about his career.
The Corporate Rock was one of the greatest characters of our time damnit!
Maui in Moana is very good.
I haven’t seen the movie, which is why I didn’t put it in Dwayne Johnson’s column.
I recommend it, if you like kids movies. There’s also a brief appearance and song by Jemaine Clement, so that’s fun.
Vin Diesel is absolutely fantastic in the Iron Giant, too.
“And that Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Riddick were actually enjoyable popcorn movies.”
Yeah, he made one watchable popcorn movie, that’s much better than the breadth of work that Johnson has done in drama, comedy and action.
I mean, there’s more acting in the opening scene of The Rundown than there is in Vin Diesel’s career, and The Rundown is probably about tenth or twelfth on the list of decent things that The Rock has been involved in.
Counterpoint: Diesel in Boiler Room is better than anything Johnson has done. Dwayne has been in way more successful franchise, but there’s something very deliberate about his movie choice “okay I’ll do this franchise for this fanbase and I’ll do this one for that fanbase”.
Diesel has made some pretty iffy films, but I think he’s the better actor when he puts his mind to it. Everything Johnson does seems like variations of Brand Rock ™. I say that as someone who genuinely likes both of them equally.
He’s a better actor when he has a director who gets the best out of him. The fact he’s basically been allowed to pick his own movies and staff for a lot of these films has made him put in piss poor performances that he thinks are great but any serious director would have not.
“Counterpoint: Diesel in Boiler Room is better than anything Johnson has done.”
Johnson in Be Cool is better than anything Diesel has ever done. Johnson in Faster is better than anything Vin Diesel has done. Johnson in Pain & Gain is better than anything Vin Diesel has done.
Hell, Johnson in The Rundown is better than Vin Diesel has ever been.
So was Johnson in Fast Five.
Naw. Vin Diesel is an actor who understands he’s an actor. Johnson thinks he’s still an athlete (“athlete”) and that for some reason that is important. Who gives a shit that Diesel can’t actually do 500 push-ups? Dom Toretto can, which is all that matters.
I don’t think Johnson still thinks he’s an athlete. He thinks he’s a **Movie Star**, but the 80s kind of Schwarzenegger/Stallone/Lundgren kind of **Movie Star** who had to have 75 inch biceps. I think it’s obnoxious, personally, and not at all sexy, but that’s what he’s going for. So he’s very into being physically fit and bodybuilding, but because that’s what he thinks he needs for his acting job, not for actual athletic endeavor.
“Johnson thinks he’s still an athlete (“athlete”) and that for some reason that is important.”
Sure, that’s why Diesel is the one pathetically trying to flex all over Johnson.
Because he’s an actor. *giggle*
I thought Diesel has been a producer since the fourth Fast & Furious movies, which implies he’s putting his own money into the franchise. He definitely has a reason to pull rank over someone who doesn’t have any skin in the game.
I’m fairly certain none of his own money is going into the movies. A lot of stars negotiate producer credits for themselves to have some creative control, but they’re seldom actually arranging financing, much less funding big budget productions out of the star’s pocket.
“which implies he’s putting his own money into the franchise.”
NO IT DOESN’T.For fuck’s sake, LEARN WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT before opening your stupid mouth.
Being. A. Producer. Does. Not. Mean. That. At. All.
Jesus fucking Christ, do you really think that most movies are financed by the stars? Do you not understand that they are trying to MAKE money?
Diesel is kind of the head of the series even if it has gotten to his head. He’s the lead producer, and has been since the fourth film.
It’s totally a move to either “gain dominance” like trying to be the top guinea pig, or to force him to decline so it’s not blamed on him.
Diesel has always sucked to me and I didn’t even like the Rock back in the late 90’s/early 00’s when he is a wrestler. But now I realize he seems cool and Diesel always was a try hard fake tough guy.
They just need to fuck and get it over with.
The market for that particular film might not be as broad as what these lunkheads are used to.
oh, I don’t know about that…
Never gonna happen. That film would likely involve XXX in the title, which would put Rock off because it’s then a Diesel franchise.
“Gimme that ass! It’s sweet sweet candy!”
Total classic!
I never thought about it before, but Vin Diesel and Rock Johnson are already pretty solid porn names.
Add Bruce Willis to the mix, and all I can think of is Bernard Black. “You know that threesome thing you do on the weekend, and the moinlight’s bouncing off your heads and your asses, does that not get a bit confusing?”.
So… is this Vin just admitting F9 was a total trainwreck of a film? Hobbs was the only reason any of the crazy action escalation made any sense in the franchise in the first place since he was the one used to bring the ‘family’ to the next level of craziness. Even when laid up for 90% of a film, Hobbs popped up at the end like an angry terminator driving an ambulance and it just worked. Meanwhile Diesel’s crazy car jump in the same action sequence was one of the dumbest things in the franchise.
Or:
Mild movie star who only makes films that are all about him taunts bigger, more talented movie star with mass appeal to try and get him back after a successful spinoff.
That “trainwreck of a film” managed to make bank this year, beating many other worthy competitors in box office numbers.
Yes. Yes it did. It was still one of the worst films in the franchise. It is at the point where Roman (honestly the most normal of the group, as he doesn’t actually have any special skills compared to everyone else) actually ponders the group’s immortality after surviving yet another crazy escalation.
The amount of money a film makes really isn’t indicative of quality. Particularly when you consider that mega-franchises like F&F, Bond, and DC/Marvel Superhero (Particularly Spider-Man, X-men, Batman, and Superman) films will automatically make a ton of money just from name recognition alone.
Not to mention it was one of the first big primarily theatrical releases of the year and gave people the chance to watch a familiar nonsensical big budget action movie in movie theaters during a pandemic.Hell, Disney noticed that audiences were clamoring for the theater experience again and shifted back from simultaneous Disney+ releases like Black Widow had and are going for 45+ days of theater exclusivity before D+. People just want to go back to normalcy.
Sounds like a lot of excuses and “yeah, but”s.Some of us could stand to get some perspective. People like us are in the very tiny minority of the general audience.
Excuses for what? I’m not disagreeing with you. The film made good money. It was always going to make good money. I’m sure it would’ve made even more outside the pandemic. Money doesn’t equal reviews or general reception. People going to see the film doesn’t change my comment.
The film was a trainwreck. It was barely coherent. Even for a turn off your brain and just enjoy the spectacle film, it got silly. At one point the plot literally ran on the magnets meme. The villains were the weakest in the whole series and I’m including the guy from 2. I could say it was still less self-serving to Vin Diesel than the third xXx movie (which sorta became an pseudo-F&F film itself) or the third Riddick film and that would be just because the F&F franchise was never just about him.
The thing to remember about trainwrecks though… if you see one happening, odds are you aren’t going to look away. You’ll watch it to completion so you can talk about it later.
At the same time, I’m sure Vin Diesel wants F10 to be better. Johnson can make great action scenes and honestly brings more weight to selling the craziness when it gets really unrealistic. Hell, his presence is what escalated things starting in F5. Like him redirecting the torpedo in F8 was totally silly but its to be expected from him. The same way you expect Jason Statham to be an unstoppable combat machine because the franchise introduced him like he was the incarnation of Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, showing up in places he honestly shouldn’t even know the heroes were and throwing a wrench into plans by being on a different level of skill. F9 honestly tried to replicate that with Cena but couldn’t because they never intended him to be a real villain (and the franchise has always made the villains clear on how evil they were. Even Shaw started things off by murdering Han pre-retcon). Diesel trying to goad Johnson back in this way is kinda… meh. It comes off less as a legitimate request and more of a ‘It’s not like we need you or anything, but if you feel like coming back we could use a guy who can legitimize the crazy stuff we’re planning.”
Is “yeah, but” an improv exercise I’ve not heard of?
Yeah, but is it really?
“Well, that depends on what you mean by ‘is’…”
I’m indifferent to most things WWE related but all of this seems very soapy and melodramatic. I’m embarrassed for Diesel that he would play like this.
I’m going to have to side with Diesel solely on my impression that he would be an interesting guy to hang out with while being around The Rock would be like having a motivational poster that shouts clichés and never stops.
He’s interesting from a distance but not in any way favorable.
I feel like Johnson would judge all of my life choices in small but perceptible ways. Just little “supportive” comments that are condescending without being mean. Whereas with Diesel, the worst he’d do is question the wisdom of rolling up a centaur paladin character, since he knows stairs and ladders will be a problem. But ultimately he’d accept it as a role-playing challenge and we’d see where it took us.
I certainly wouldn’t be able to eat in front of Johnson.
Exactly. Like, I could match him pound for pound when he’s gorging on chicken or cod or whatever. But mine would all be deep fried with a side of fries and I feel like he’d make little noises after each time I took a bite. A lot of “hm” and “oof.”
I’d gift him a shirt with sleeves, but I don’t think he’d know what to do with it.
I sprained my diaphragm laughing at this comment. Well done!
You just accurately described his Instagram. Also he’d talk at you about his brand of tequila.
Yeah, wouldn’t it be interesting to hang out with Vin Diesel and listen to him whine about Dwayne Johnson *IN PERSON*!!!!
If back when Fast Five or Six came out, you told me these two dudes would have a falling out and I’d be more on Diesel’s side, I would have drifted out of the conversation entirely out of disbelief. But here we are. Vin’s proven time and time again he’s just a big, sweet nerd who says incredulous shit but seems to really, genuinely mean it. While Johnson has become increasingly unlikable and annoying. Treat your workers better, man.
Instant response should be -“Thanks for asking, big sister but i’d rather go and do Hobbs and Shaw 2.”
Is it possible this whole Johnson/Diesel feud is a work?
Vin, help me out. I want a role in the next movie. Announce an open casting session.
I hope the next film is super grounded and not a world saving adventure. That’d be a nice way to end the series.
Except, of course, that Fast 11 is going to be the series finale, not Fast 10 as the article says.
Other film franchises go up to 10. Fast and Furious goes up to 11.