“Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw” on free TV
That’s why “The Rock” stood out from the original series
Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs (left) and Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw in “Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw”.
© 2019 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
With “Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw” the spin-off of the PS series will be on free TV on November 21st. But why did “The Rock” stand out?
The “Fast & Furious” series has been making millions in the box office since 2001. On November 21st (8:15 pm, RTL), the first spin-off will jet off to its free TV premiere with “Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw”. As the title suggests, Luke Hobbs alias Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (49) and Deckard Shaw alias Jason Statham (54) play the leading roles. But why did the two Hollywood stars disconnect from the original series?
A row within the “Fast & Furious” family
Towards the end of the shooting of “Fast & Furious 8”, the family ties, which were actually so thick, began to crack. There was a huge crash between the alpha male Vin Diesel (54)) and “The Rock”. Diesel has been playing Dom Toretto since part one, Johnson has been flexing his muscles since “Fast & Furious Five”. The latter has since unpacked on several occasions, for example in an interview with “Rolling Stone”, about the trouble with his co-star.
“Vin and I had a couple of discussions, including an important one-on-one conversation in my trailer,” Johnson said at the time. In doing so, he realized that there was “a fundamental difference” in their “philosophies” as to how “we approach filmmaking and collaboration”. It took some time, “but I am grateful for this clarity”. Then “The Rock” followed suit: “Whether we will work together again or not”.
“I wish him the best and I have no grudges for the clarity that exists between us,” said Johnson. But the Hollywood star has apparently reconsidered this statement, as the article from “Rolling Stone” said. After a loud laugh, the former wrestler added: “Actually, you can delete this last part about the grudge. We’ll leave it at the clarity.”
Logically, “The Rock” didn’t play a role in “Fast & Furious 9”. A return in the tenth trick no longer seems completely unrealistic. In an open letter recently, Diesel pulled out all the stops to win Johnson back. He had promised his late Paul Walker (1973-2013) that he would make the two-part “Fast & Furious” final the best of all time. But he needs Johnson in the role of Luke Hobbs for that. No one else could play the agent and bounty hunter.
Diesel plays the ball in Johnson’s field: “You have to show up, don’t let the franchise down,” he writes. Alluding to Walker’s legacy, he adds: “I hope you will take the opportunity and fulfill your destiny.”
This is how the spin-off trumps
In the offshoot, service agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and the outlawed ex-elite soldier Deckard Shaw (Statham) learn about the threatening plans of the international terrorist Brixton (Idris Elba, 49). As is well known, the adversaries can’t stand each other and have clashed more than once.
However, anarchist Brixton seems like an unbeatable opponent who even manages to overpower Shaw’s sister (Vanessa Kirby, 33), a rogue MI6 agent. Due to genetic and cybernetic development, he is clearly at an advantage. Inevitably, Hobbs and Shaw team up …