[imagesource: Universal Pictures / Everett Collection]

The year is 2042.

The highest-grossing film in South Africa is Mr Bones 15, with nonagenarian Leon Schuster still catching heat for blackface.

Looking abroad, the Fast and the Furious franchise has just released its 33rd movie and, would you believe it, Vin Diesel plays a muscled man who loves fast cars and has to save the day.

I joke, because the 10th movie is set to be the final in the franchise, but you get my (Tokyo) drift.

Director Justin Lin, who was at the helm for Fast X, quit last week. Here’s IndieWire:

Allegedly, a “major disagreement” with lead star Diesel led Lin to throw in the towel on April 23…

“Justin finally had enough and said, ‘This movie is not worth my mental health,’” one insider [said].

Insiders say that, per an “unorthodox” writing process, Vin Diesel allegedly gets to veto action scenes from writers, leaving the director to figure out how they best fit together.

You can read the full report on that fallout here.

What’s particularly noteworthy about this is that it’s far from the first time Diesel has fallen out with a co-star or co-worker.

As The Telegraph lays out, Diesel’s “reputation as a fuel-injected prima donna precedes him”:

His most notorious clash on set was with Dwayne Johnson who has played special agent Luke Hobbs in five Furious films (including Diesel-free 2019 spin-off Hobbs & Shaw)…

“My female co-stars are always amazing and I love ’em. My male co-stars however are a different story,” Johnson posted to Instagram on his final day of filming The Fate of the Furious in 2017. “Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t. The ones that don’t are too chicken s___ to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses.”

Even when executives tried to get the two to make peace, Johnson wasn’t backing down.

Following a meeting with Diesel, which Johnson said he “wouldn’t call a peaceful meeting”, the former wrestling star added it was “crystal clear that we are two separate ends of the spectrum”.

Last November, Diesel turned to social media to try and guilt Johnson into returning to the franchise.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel)

In response, Johnson said he “didn’t like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker’s death”.

Diesel clearly has a bit of an ego:

One source of amusement was the beefcake rivalry between Diesel, Johnson and weaponised geezer Jason Statham. The trio of muscle-bound lunks all had contractual clauses mandating they could never be shown losing a fight on screen. Diesel took this to extremes by insisting each punch thrown during a scrap have a “point” allocation. Keeping tally of the points would ensure he was never short-charged compared to his co-stars.

He also managed to piss off Charlize Theron, after saying during an interview that the actress certainly enjoyed their onscreen kiss during 2017’s The Fate of the Furious.

In response, Charlize pulled absolutely zero punches:

“I just don’t get it,” Theron said when asked about Diesel’s remarks. She pointed out the kiss was planted by the chilly Cipher on an unwilling Dom.

It was a show of dominance on the villain’s part – and supposed to be the very opposite of passionate.

“He’s literally going around saying that I had the best time of my life… It looks like I’m assaulting his face with my mouth.”

Many crew members who have worked on most, if not all, of the franchise’s films have also grown tired of Diesel’s tardiness on set.

At one stage, when it was announced that Paul Walker would be replaced by a digital avatar following his death in the middle of filming, the crew asked if the same could be done for Diesel.

Ouch, that has to hurt.

[sources:indiewire&telegraph]