Vin Diesel Says That the Rock's 'Fast and Furious' Character Was Originally Intended for Tommy Lee Jones
It’s been a bumpy ride to the finish line of Fast 8’s production, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson setting off a PR firestorm by calling out certain castmates as “candy asses” via Instagram — a slam that, was reportedly directed at franchise star Vin Diesel. While that brouhaha had apparently been simmering for months, the two titanic stars seem to have reached a truce, and in a new online video, Diesel goes out of his way to praise his co-star — while also revealing that Johnson’s role in the Fast & Furious films almost went to an Oscar-winning actor. Watch below:
In a nearly 30-minute Facebook Live video during which he revealed, among other things, that the Guardians of the Galaxy will appear in Joe and Anthony Russo’s upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, Diesel disclosed that Johnson’s Fast & Furious character Luke Hobbs was originally written for none other than Tommy Lee Jones.
Related: Vin Diesel and Helen Mirren Nuzzle On ‘Fast 8′ — See More Shots From the Set
“Back in the fifth film, I was asking ‘Who should I work with?’ The reason why we brought Dwayne Johnson into Fast Five was because of [the fans]…. [Someone] said, ‘I would love to see you guys work together on-screen.’ And so, we gave a role that was initially written for Tommy Lee Jones but we gave it to Dwayne, and he shined in it.”
Jones’ participation certainly would have given the series a different flavor — by which we mean, it would have been far less massively muscular — although given Jones’ familiarity with action cinema (he was the villain in Under Siege, and hunted a wanted man in The Fugitive and its sequel U.S. Marshals), one can see the thinking behind his potential casting. Nonetheless, those itching to see Jones in the midst of violent mayhem will instead have to check him out – sporting an amusing soul patch opposite Jason Statham and Jessica Alba – in this Friday’s Mechanic: Resurrection.
Fast 8, meanwhile, roars into theaters on April 14, 2017.
