Keeping It Wheel: How The Fast And The Furious Became Cinema’s Biggest Franchise
There has been on-set strife too. Hobbs and Shaw are presented as natural-born frenemies. But during the shooting of The Fate of the Furious it emerged that Johnson had a real-life nemesis on the team.
He went on Instagram to accuse one of his male co-stars of being a “candy ass” lacking professionalism. “When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling – you’re right,” he wrote. No names were mentioned. The suspicion, however, was that he was talking about Diesel, who is known to cut a solitary figure.
The “beef” added real spark to their interactions. Not that Fate needed any petrol poured on top. It was already the best sort of riot. Charlize Theron
is trying to take over the world with remote-control cars. The big climactic chase sees the crew face off against a decommissioned Soviet submarine. And yes, Johnson and Diesel glare at one another as if willing lasers to shoot from their eyes.
But that’s how it has always been with The Fast and the Furious. In theory, these films are much too ridiculous to take seriously. Under the bonnet, though, they’re lean and mean. And once you catch the bug, you’re smitten for life.