Fast X Director Breaks Silence on Making Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel Sign a ‘Peace Deal’ for an Unimaginable Moment: “I Could Not Conceive”

Two years after Dwayne Johnson made it clear that he would not be returning to the Fast and Furious franchise in the future, the 51-year-old actor bagged a film credit for Fast X. Johnson admittedly had a fallout with Vin Diesel while shooting the eighth installment of the $6 billion movie franchise. As a result, he wasn’t a part of F9, after having worked in several prequels. It took a 49-year-old Frenchman to broker a peace deal between the two actors.

Speaking about his role, Louis Leterrier, the director of Fast X revealed how he got Johnson to change his views, paving the groundwork for his comeback.

Louis Leterrier reached out to Dwayne Johnson with a special message

Leterrier had his work cut out for him. He knew that an estranged Johnson wasn’t easy to convince and took the challenge head-on. “I didn’t know Dwayne, personally, but we reached out to Dwayne and Dwayne’s team. We sort of looked at each other from across the room and winked a few months back, saying, “We should work together.”,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

The 49-year-old said after the conversation, he pitched an idea to the studio and producers and after getting a go-ahead, reached back to Johnson. The 51-year-old had snapped at Vin Diesel, the main protagonist after the 55-year-old made a public appeal to him to join back the franchise.

Johnson had deemed Diesel’s Instagram post as manipulative and chided him for dragging family members in it. The fallout almost made it impossible for the two to work together, however, Leterrier had other plans.

He invited Johnson to come and watch the film and said the 51-year-old loved what he saw, facilitating a conversation about his role in Fast X. For the unversed, Johnson has a post-credit role in Fast X and is set for a bigger screen time in the sequel.

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“It was very smooth, and frankly, as a fan, I could not conceive continuing the franchise without either Dwayne or Gal Gadot,” the Fast X director said about his talks with Dwayne Johnson. Fast X incidentally also happens to be the first joint Hollywood project for two WWE legends, Johnson and John Cena.

Could John Cena have played the peacemaker between the two top stars?

Wouldn’t it have been fitting to see John Cena playing the peacemaker between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel? The 46-year-old actor who played the titular character in the DC’s Peacemaker TV series recently lifted the lid on his relationship with the two top action stars.

In a recent chat with MTV’s Josh Horowitz, Cena said he enjoys a cordial bond with Diesel, which was in stark contrast to what The People’s Champ shared with the 55-year-old. The F9 villain further stated that he reaches out to the Fast and Furious franchise leader with “no agenda”.

Cena also indirectly rebuffed Johnson’s ‘manipulation’ allegation against Diesel as the Peacemaker called him a “nice guy”. It is clear that the two WWE icons have contrasting take on Diesel and that would have hindered Cena from playing the mediator in the feud.

Fortunately, someone managed it, and fans now will be able to see Cena and The Rock together for the first time in a Hollywood movie.

So, what’s your take on Dwayne Johnson’s return to the Fast and Furious franchise? Let us know in the comments.

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