During the making of Fast & Furious 7, Vin Diesel came up with a unique idea to ensure that both he and his co-star, Jason Statham, were treated equally on screen. To prevent any unfairness, Diesel proposed a numerical system to the film crew that would assign a number to each hit or punch delivered by either actor. This way, the total amount of hits received by both actors could be shared equally, preventing any one actor from being hit or punched more than the other. The Wall Street Journal reported this amusing story, highlighting Diesel’s concern for fairness in his work.
According to reports, the idea was abandoned by the crew as it was deemed too complicated. However, this incident was just one of many instances on the Fast & Furious movies where actors demanded certain conditions regarding their on-screen appearances. For instance, Statham reportedly has a clause in his contract that restricts how severely he can be beaten up on screen. Meanwhile, Diesel’s younger sister has been assigned the task of keeping count of the number of punches her brother receives on screen.
Diesel and Statham have not given any statement regarding the allegations, but according to Michael Cottrell, who is the producer of Fast & Furious, vanity does play a part in determining fight scenes.
