The Rock ramps up Fast & Furious feud, wants to poach cast-members for Hobbs spin-off

Ben Arnold
·Contributor

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson isn’t shying away from the behind-the-scenes drama around the new ‘Fast & Furious’ spin-off movie planned for his franchise character special agent Luke Hobbs.

It was announced last week that a spin-off movie starring Johnson as Hobbs teaming up with Jason Statham’s master criminal Deckard Shaw is due for April, 2019.

However the news was accompanied by an unseemly outburst by Tyrese Gibson, who took to social media to lambast The Rock for delaying the ninth ‘Fast & Furious’ movie by a year to take up the spin-off.

It seems Gibson had appealed to Johnson in private not to sign up, but found his negotiation skills lacking. He later branded Johnson ‘a clown’.

Diversity, love, multi ethnic worldwide multi generational, United Nations, One Race, Fast Family…… Until Dewayne showed up I guess this whole time he had a problem cause he wasn't the ONLY ONE on the movie poster……….. I guess dreams do come true congratulations to @hhgarcia41 and @therock you guys are just amazing you really broke up the #FastFamily I tried to warn you guys… You thought I was hating…… I was simply fighting to keep the family together what makes us great is when you see us all TOGETHER we don't fly solo….. #MyLastPost today….. I got 3 years of venting on this clown – They offered but YOU didn't have to agree with a solo #HobbsMovie #OriginalFastFamily we salute you and stand on your shoulders #VinDiesel #PaulWalker #RobCohen #RomanTej were offered a spin off we TURNED IT DOWN!!!

A post shared by TYRESE (@tyrese) on Oct 5, 2017 at 2:12pm PDT

In turn, The Rock is now suggesting that his ‘Fast & Furious’ cast-mates come on the Hobbs/Shaw spin-off ride with him.

Just not all of them.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for this franchise that I’ve enjoyed droppin’ blood and sweat in over the years and my vision is to create greater opportunities for not only my fellow FF cast mates, but for other amazing actors as well who want to be a part of something new and cool,” he said.

“Let’s have some FUN and to quote, Hobbs the boss, if you don’t like it, we’re happy to beat that ass like a Cherokee drum.”

Daddy’s gotta go back to work ~ Hobbs. Pumped to expand and build out the FAST & FURIOUS universe in a cool, exciting way with our @sevenbucksprod, writer/producer Chris Morgan, producer Hiram Garcia and lead producer and my bigger twin, Neil Moritz. Thank you UNIVERSAL STUDIOS for being tremendous partners who see the big picture and for coming to us years ago with this spinoff idea. Huge shout to my brother, Jason Statham for the trust and wanting to create and deliver something fresh and bad ass for the fans. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this franchise that I’ve enjoyed droppin’ blood and sweat in over the years and my vision is to create greater opportunities for not only my fellow FF cast mates, but for other amazing actors as well who want to be a part of something new and cool. I want to use my spinoff platform to create new characters that fans will ultimately love to have fun with in multiple chapters and platforms. Film, TV, Digital, Virtual Reality etc.. the more opportunities we can create the better for the fans. Smart business. Let’s have some FUN and to quote, Hobbs the boss, if you don’t like it, we’re happy to beat that ass like a Cherokee drum. #HOBBS #SevenBucksProds #NewOpportunities #CandyAssesNeedNotApply JULY 2019

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Oct 9, 2017 at 9:41am PDT

He signed off with the hashtag ‘#CandyAssesNeedNotApply’, a reference to where the feud around the billion dollar movie franchise started.

In wrapping ‘Fast & Furious 8’ last year, The Rock sounded off about some of the male co-stars and their seemingly bad attitudes on set, branding them ‘candy asses’.

Whether Vin Diesel or Gibson will make an appearance in the Hobbs/Shaw spin-off remains to be seen, but with The Rock getting himself what could become a rival franchise – and with ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘Lethal Weapon’ luminary Shane Black reportedly being courted to make it – the row should keep simmering nicely.

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