While the first Fast & Furious spinoff movie kicks some serious ass at the box office, some people on the Internet are preoccupied by a new report of the recently revealed fight scene stipulations. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw might be dominating other movies at the theaters, but the stars might not be allowed to get a leg up on each other.
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This week, a report emerged that the Fast & Furious franchise takes painstaking measures to ensure that its stars never look bad in fights, specifically mentioning Hobbs & Shaw actors Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham‘s appearances in action sequences. Now the Rock himself is poking fun at the report, making fun of his co-star’s “contract stipulations.”
Jen!! This scene actually had me singing a karaoke song about Statham, called “You’re an asshole tonight and every night for that matter, so f*ck off” but it was deemed the same as “losing a fight” which contradicted his contract stipulations so the scene was lifted 😂
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 3, 2019
All of the commotion stems from a report from the Wall Street Journal that states Johnson, Statham, and Vin Diesel all have provisions that prevent them from suffering a lopsided fight. It specifically states that Diesel’s sister Samantha Vincent, who serves as a producer on the franchise, counts the amount of punches that the star actor takes.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Universal Pictures said that “every character has their moment, and that all are seen as formidable opponents. Each ‘Fast‘ character is a hero to someone watching, and we never forget that.”
It might be a bizarre rule, but it has ensured some entertaining action sequences, as well as the enduring popularity of its characters that have since gone on to feature in their own spinoff movies.
It’s not clear if this formula is sustainable, as the competition between actors on screen might have boiled over behind the scenes between Johnson and Diesel. The two were embroiled in a very public feud leading up to and beyond the release of Fate of the Furious, and now they’ve split the franchise in two distinct directions.
While there doesn’t seem to be a plan for Johnson and Diesel to collaborate on screen in the near future, producer Hiram Garcia made it clear that it’s possible for the two actors to appear in another Fast & Furious movie.
“Sure, I mean, look. This isn’t about a separate world, this is a world that feeds into the Fast & Furious. We just did it out of order,” Garcia said in an interview with Variety. “Whereas the Avengers and Marvel universe, they started with their spinoffs and they got to Avengers, we started with our Avengers in Fast & Furious and now we’re starting to spin it off. But it’s to help support the Fast & Furious universe because obviously we have plans for 9 and 10, but who doesn’t want an 11, 12, and 13, so forth?”
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is now playing in theaters.
