Getty/Jesse Grant, stringer
- Johnson said Diesel's "tough love" comment made him laugh "hard."
- He said he wished the franchise luck on the "movies they do that will be without me."
- The two have been feuding since starring in 2017's "The Fate of the Furious."
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson says he got a kick out of Vin Diesel's recent comments that the star of the "Fast and Furious" movies gave Johnson "tough love" when the former WWE star started out in the franchise.
"I laughed and I laughed hard," Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent story profiling his upcoming Disney movie "Jungle Cruise" opposite Emily Blunt.
"I think everyone had a laugh at that," Johnson continued, speaking alongside Blunt. "And I'll leave it at that. And that I've wished them well. I wish them well on 'Fast 9.' And I wish them the best of luck on 'Fast 10' and 'Fast 11' and the rest of the 'Fast and Furious' movies they do that will be without me."
Blunt then added to Johnson: "Just thank God he was there," speaking of Diesel. "Thank God. He carried you through that."
"Felliniesque," Johnson replied to his costar, quoting what Diesel had said.
For the July/August cover story of Men's Health, Diesel reignited the reported feud between Diesel and Johnson when Diesel, who plays the "Fast and Furious" franchise lead Dominic Toretto and is a producer on the movies, revealed it took "a lot of tough love" and "a lot of work" to get Johnson's federal agent Luke Hobbs' character right for his entry into the franchise for 2011's "Fast 5."
Universal
"It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character," Diesel told the magazine. "My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be."
"That's something that I'm proud of, that aesthetic," Diesel continued. "That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I'd have to do in order to get performances in anything I'm producing."
Their beef became pubic in August 2016 during Johnson's final week of shooting "The Fate of the Furious," the eighth installment in the movie series. The "Jungle Cruise" star took to Facebook to call out some of his male costars for being "candy a--es," writing that some don't "conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals."
It turned out Johnson was calling out Diesel.
The two talked it out later, Johnson told Rolling Stone, following a face-to-face meeting in his trailer.
Johnson went on to star opposite Jason Statham in the "Fast and Furious" spinoff movie, 2019's "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw." Johnson's comments to THR makes it seem unlikely we'll see his Hobbs character return for the close of the "Fast & Furious" franchise.