Vin Diesel wants Dwayne Johnson back in the "Fast and Furious" fold for the upcoming franchise finale, despite the long history of bad blood between the two.
"My little brother Dwayne... the time has come," Diesel wrote on Instagram to Johnson, who played Agent Hobbs in several films in the series. "Heritage Awaits."
Diesel, who stars as Dominic Toretto, added:
“I say this out of love… but you must show up, don't leave the franchise idle, you have a very important role to play. Hobbs cannot be played by anyone else. I hope you seize the opportunity and fulfill your destiny. ”
Diesel noted that his children refer to Johnson as "Uncle Dwayne." His children and Johnson, he added, exchange each other on every holiday…although he didn't mention whether he and Johnson exchanged those greetings.
They almost certainly don't, given their very public feud.
Johnson provided some not-so-veiled comments about his experiences working on 2017's "The Fate Of The Furious," which were believed to be about Diesel.
"Some act like stand-up men and real professionals, while others don't," Johnson said at the time. “Those who are not too lazy to do something about it anyway. Candy asses.”
He even said viewers could see the moments he ticked off with the then-unnamed costar.
"If you're watching this movie in April and it seems like I'm not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is boiling, then you're right," he wrote on Instagram.
He said he had "clarified" later with Diesel, but it didn't seem particularly warm.
"But I wish him all the best, and I have no ill will there, just because of the clarity we have," he told Rolling Stone in 2018. "Actually, you can erase that last part about 'no ill will'. We'll just keep it simple."
Diesel told Men's Health last summer that he just used "tough love" on set to get the best performance from his costars.
"Not Felliniesque, but I'd do anything I'd have to do to get gigs in anything I produce," he said.
Johnson was not impressed.
"Part of me feels like there's no way I'd be worthy of all that nonsense with an answer," he told Vanity Fair last month, adding that Diesel's claim made him laugh.
“So when I read that, like everyone else, I laughed. I laughed hard. We all laughed," he said. "And somehow I'm sure Fellini is laughing too."
While Johnson has said he won't be returning to "Fast & Furious," he's more open to a sequel to the "Hobbs & Shaw spin-off," though last week he said it's meant to be "the antithesis." making what Fast and Furious movies are in general."
He told Sirius XM that he pitched his idea to "shake things up a bit" and that the creative team "all loved it."
Johnson added that the main issue right now is timing, given the number of projects he's involved in, according to Collider. The 49-year-old actor tweeted this week in response to a post by Bleacher Report that showed himself alongside an Alabama police officer named Eric Field
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