Dwayne Johnson says no to "Fast & Furious 10"

 

A month or so back, Vin Diesel took to Instagram to publicly invite Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson back in the fold for the upcoming Fast & Furious 10.

Johnson hasn't starred on-screen with Diesel in the franchise since 2017's "The Fate of the Furious", when he veered off into the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off with Jason Statham, who plays Deckard Shaw in the franchise.

However, during a recent interview with CNN, Johnson put his thoughts about returning to work with Diesel very bluntly, saying:

"I was very surprised by Vin's recent post. This past June, when Vin and I actually connected not over social media, I told him directly - and privately - that I would not be returning to the franchise.

"I was firm yet cordial with my words and said that I would always be supportive of the cast and always root for the franchise to be successful, but that there was no chance I would return. I privately spoke with my partners at Universal as well, all of whom were very supportive as they understand the problem.

"Vin's recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I didn't like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker's death. Leave them out of it. We had spoken months ago about this and came to a clear understanding. My goal all along was to end my amazing journey with this incredible Fast & Furious franchise with gratitude and grace. It's unfortunate that this public dialogue has muddied the waters.

"Regardless, I'm confident in the 'Fast' universe and its ability to consistently deliver for the audience, and I truly wish my former co-stars and crew members the best of luck and success in the next chapter."

Johnson is currently still signed on for "Hobbs & Shaw 2" with Jason Statham, who (slight spoilers) appeared in the mid-credits sequence of Fast & Furious 9, indicating that Statham will be rejoining the main series for the tenth outing.

At the time of writing, Fast & Furious 10: Part One is due to arrive in cinemas in May 2023, with Part Two likely to arrive in 2024, while Hobbs & Shaw 2 has no current set release date.

Vin Diesel wants Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs to return for the final two chapters

 

In a recent Instagram post by Vin Diesel, the 54-year old action star is hoping to persuade Dwayne Johnson to return to the main series in "Fast 10", however back in July, Johnson himself has stated that he would not be part of the cast of both Fast 10 and 11 and instead plans to return for a sequel to "Hobbs & Shaw". If Johnson does return, then lets hope we get Johnson vs. Cena, that would be incredible. Fast & Furious 10 is set to race into cinemas in April 2023 through no details have been announced, but it has been stated that the next films will begin shooting back-to-back in January with Justin Lin back in the directors chair and main players like Diesel, Michelle Rodriguz, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Jordana Brewster and Sung Kang all returning.

Fast & Furious 10 to introduce new members to the Family?

 

According to the website WeGotThisCovered, the next "Fast" movie will introduce new characters to the team. 

The tenth installment in the franchise will race into theatres in April 2023, and as has been the case with every entry since Fast Five, we can expect the ranks to swell even further. Looking at the core cast of characters to have become regulars, the family now consists of Diesel’s Dominic Toretto, Jordana Brewster’s Mia, Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty, Ludacris’ Tej, Tyrese’s Roman, Nathalie Emmanuel’s Ramsey, Sung Kang’s returning Han, and now John Cena’s Jakob if that beefy handshake at the end of F9 is any indication.

On top of that, you could realistically include Kurt Russell’s Mr. Nobody, Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw and Helen Mirren’s Queenie as part of the crew, while Tokyo Drift trio Lucas Black, Bow Wow and Jason Tobin also dropped by for a scene or two. And yet, you didn’t even notice Scott Eastwood was missing as Little Nobody, did you? For shame.

Expect some more never-before mentioned siblings or new characters to join the team, maybe we'll see the never before mentioned brother of Brian O'Conner, who knows.

Fast & Furious 10 Recap

 Plot

No plot details are known, but there a number of clues in F9 that tells us what to possibly expect in part 10. Jakob Toretto at the moment is on the road to redemption, Cipher is still at large and justice may be fully served for Han, we'll just have to wait and see.

Release Date:
April 7th, 2023

Director:

Justin Lin

• Cast

Confirmed (Almost): Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Cardi B

Possible (Yet to be confirmed): John Cena, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren, Lucas Black, Shad "Bow Wow" Moss, Anna Sawai, Kurt Russell, Luke Evans, Scott Eastwood

Unlikely: Dwayne Johnson

R.I.P. Sonny Chiba aka Uncle Kamata

Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba, the Japanese actor and martial arts legend who had roles in American films like “Kill Bill” and “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” died on Thursday of COVID complications, his agent and manager confirmed to Variety. He was 82.

Chiba’s career in film and television spanned five decades — from the 1960s through the 2010s — and he appeared in countless Japanese titles, in addition to some popular American movies. In many of his projects, he showcased his expert martial arts skills, and he went on to choreograph fight scenes later in his career.

Born Sadaho Maeda in Fukuoka, Japan, on Jan. 22, 1939, he began learning martial arts while at Nippon Sport Science University in 1957. He studied under karate master Masutatsu “Mas” Oyama and earned a first-degree black belt in 1965. He later played Oyama in a trilogy of films, “Champion of Death,” “Karate Bearfighter” and “Karate for Life,” in the late 1970s. In 1984, he received a fourth-degree black belt. He also held black belts in ninjutsu, shorinji kempo, judo, kendo and goju-ryu karate.

He began his career in film and TV in 1960, taking on the name Shinichi Chiba. His first roles came on Japanese superhero shows “Seven Color Mask,” where he replaced the lead actor, and “Messenger of Allah,” in which he played the main character. His first movie roles were in a series of crime thrillers from Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku, who he collaborated with frequently, and the sci-fi pic “Invasion of the Neptune Men” in 1961.

Chiba starred in his first martial arts film, “Karate Kiba,” in 1973, and his international breakout role came in 1974’s “The Street Fighter,” which was released in the U.S. by New Line Cinema with an X rating for its violence.

In Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill: Volume 1,” Chiba played Hattori Hanzo, a retired swordsman and owner of a sushi restaurant who crafts a blade for Uma Thurman’s main character. He also appeared in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” as Kamata, a Yakuza boss and uncle of the main antagonist, Takashi (Brian Tee), a role that I will always remember him for.

Some of Chiba’s other credits included “The Bullet Train,” “Champion of Death,” “The Storm Riders,” “Karate Warriors,” “Doberman Cop,” “Shogun’s Samurai,” “G.I. Samurai” and many more. Before the pandemic, he was set to star in a film titled “Outbreak Z,” alongside Jesse Ventura and Wesley Snipes. “Bond of Justice: Kizuna” will be his final, posthumous film role.

Fast & Furious 10 Release Date Announced!

Universal has set a release date of April 7, 2023 for Fast and Furious 10, Deadline can confirm. That returns the Fast & Furious franchise to its holy Easter weekend stomping ground where F7, the highest grossing title in the series was launched in 2015 to $147.1M domestic, and finaled at $353M domestic, $1.5 billion global. Universal followed with Fate of the Furious in 2017 which notched the third biggest global debut of all-time at $541.9M (before finaling at $1.2 billion WW). We hear the studio quietly dated the film on Comscore and that Vin Diesel is expected to announce the title at some point in the future on social. He has typically shown up at CinemaCon to bang the drums about the next Fast & Furious sequel, however, that would be a tall order this year given how most studios are safely keeping their celebs at home from Caesar’s due to the Delta variant. No other casting confirmations or plot lines are known about the tenthquel, but you gotta give the franchise credit for heading into space in the latest installment. We can expect Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Lucas Black, Charlize Theron, John Cena, Jason Statham and Cardi B to all return.

Hobbs & Shaw producer gives an update on Hobbs & Shaw 2 and confirms that Dwayne Johnson will not be in Fast 10 or 11

 

Fast & Furious 10 and 11 definitely won't be welcoming back Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs.

With a mammoth slate of projects on his agenda, including a Hobbs and Shaw sequel, the actor's producing partner at Seven Bucks Productions, Hiram Garcia, recently told Collider that Johnson's time with the main Fast family is over for good.

"After filming Fast 8, DJ made the clear decision to close the Fast & Furious chapter for all the evident reasons," he explained. "He wished them all well and shifted our focus on to other storytelling avenues.

"So while he will not be in F10 or F11, that won't in any way interfere with our Hobbs plans. Obviously all these characters exist in the Fast universe and we love to see all aspects of that universe thrive and succeed.

"We just have specific plans for what we want to do with the Hobbs character and I think the fans are going to love it! We're working to deliver something very unique and fresh and we know the studio is eager for us to get into it ASAP!"

Further teasing that second Hobbs and Shaw, Garcia also mentioned during his interview: "At the moment we're trying to figure out what that sequel is going to be, but we have some very big ideas."

It's no secret that Johnson and fellow Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye in the past, and last month Johnson declared that he "laughed hard" at Diesel's latest comments on their time working together. However something tells me that Vin actually swapped Johnson out for John Cena.