Why did The Rock and Vin Diesel have real-life heat?

The Rock has starred in many popular hit movies, with one of them being part of the Fast and Furious franchise alongside Vin Diesel. While it seems like Dwayne Johnson would mostly get along with his co-stars, that wasn't the case with Diesel.

Johnson started his journey in the Fast and Furious franchise with its fifth installment, Fast Five, in 2011, where he portrayed a federal agent named Luke Hobbs. His character appeared in the next three films and a spin-off. His most recent appearance as Luke Hobbs was for the franchise's spin-off Hobbs & Shaw in 2019, where he starred alongside Jason Statham.

During the filming of the movie's eighth installment, The Fate of the Furious, in 2016, reports emerged that Vin Diesel arrived late for filming. This was followed by the WWE legend posting a now-deleted photo where he called out some of his male co-stars. In the post, he wrote that some aren't true professionals and called them names.

Vin Diesel then addressed this issue in Men's Health. He revealed that as a producer, he approached Johnson's character, Hobbs, with "tough love."

“It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character,” Diesel said. “My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be. As a producer to say, Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know—Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks."

The Rock publicly turns down Vin Diesel's invitation to return for another Fast and Furious movie

After talks of their alleged differences, it looked like the WWE legend had moved on from his feud with Vin Diesel. However, a public post made by Diesel might have set the two back.

In November last year, Vin Diesel posted a photo with The Rock where he asked him to return for the finale of Fast 10. The caption also referenced the former's children and Paul Walker.

Johnson then revealed that he has already told his former co-star that he's not returning to the franchise. The Rock added that the post was an example of manipulation and didn't like how Vin Diesel included personal matters.

"Vin's recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I didn't like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker's death. Leave them out of it. We had spoken months ago about this [not returning to the franchise] and came to a clear understanding. My goal all along was to end my amazing journey with this incredible 'Fast & Furious' franchise with gratitude and grace," said The Rock.

It's safe to say that The Rock has moved on from the Fast and Furious franchise. It will be interesting to see what's next in the famed movie series.