'F9': Vin Diesel's 'Tough Love' Approach May Have Triggered Feud With Dwayne Johnson

The feud between actors Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson has been going on since 2016. Now, Diesel has shed light on the prolonged grudge between the actors, who first appeared together in the fifth installment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise.

Prior to his forthcoming installment "F9," Diesel reflected on the missing member from the movie family -- Johnson, who played the character Luke Hobbs.

"It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character," Diesel told Men’s Health during an interview. "My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be."

Diesel recalled the reason behind casting Johnson as Hobbs, and why he was tough as a producer.

"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," he continued. "That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic."

"That took a lot of work," he concluded. "We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing."

Diesel portrayed Dominic Toretto's character, and Johnson went on to portray Hobbs in "Fast & Furious 6" in 2013 and "Furious 7" in 2015.

Johnson had shared a post on Facebook in 2016 (deleted later), ranting about his co-stars.

"My female co-stars are always amazing and I love 'em," he wrote on Facebook in 2016, TMZ reported. "My male co-stars however are a different story. 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."

Now, it seems both the actors have mellowed down a bit about their differences.

"I think some things may be blown out of proportion. I don’t think that was his intention," Diesel told USA Today in 2017. "I know he appreciates how much I work this franchise. In my house, he’s Uncle Dwayne. . . . It’s not always easy being an alpha. And it’s two alphas. Being an alpha is sometimes a pain in the (butt)."

Similarly, Johnson told Rolling Stone in 2017 that it was just like life, where there are "different philosophies and people have different fundamental philosophies on how you do things and again, the most important thing is just the movie."

Johnson had portrayed Hobbs again in "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw," which was the franchise's spinoff, which was released in 2019. The movie also starred Jason Statham, Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart in key roles. Johnson is currently filming the superhero movie "Black Adam."

"F9" is all set to release this Friday in theaters, while "F10" will feature Cardi B, Diesel confirmed.