On the heels of news that Universal is pursuing a Fast & Furious spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, and Charlize Theron, the first details of the scene deleted from The Fate of the Furious credits coming online thanks to The Wrap.
From what I can tell from a new report from from Heroic Hollywood founder himself Umberto Gonzalez, ego is what killed the first post-credits scene in The Fate of the Furious franchise. He previously reported the existence of the scene, which involved Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw, the chemistry of whom Universal hoped to capitalize on. However, series star and producer Vin Diesel forced the studio to remove it.
According to Gonzalez’s source, it wasn’t just that the scene featured the two action stars who are nipping at his heels as the biggest actors in the Fast & Furious series. It was that it explicitly took his character, Dominic Toretto, down a peg. Here’s the description:
The deleted scene is a nod to “Rocky 3’s” fight at the end between Rocky and Apollo. Hobbs and Shaw face off and right before they connect fists they stop, look at one another and one of them goes, “Why are we fighting? We should be working together instead of for that idiot.”
His sources say the scene was the idea of producer Neil Moritz. Unfortunately, Diesel’s sister Samantha Vincent, who is an executive producer on Fate, learned of it and informed her brother, who was angry enough to get Universal to recall all the theatrical prints to remove the scene. Another source says the scene was always intended as bonus content for the home video and it’s exclusion was for a “better opportunity somewhere else.”
Johnson, Statham, and Theron are the biggest additions to the franchise after its transformation from street racing drama to high-octane blockbuster. Their star power has reinvigorated each installment, keeping the aging series fresh eight films in. It’s notable, especially with Paul Walker passed away, that Johnson is now without question the co-lead for the franchise and Statham got third billing in Fate, putting both men at the heels of Diesel, who seems to have felt the heat.
Any spinoffs are currently in the most preliminary stages, with no script yet from series scribe Chris Morgan. Both Diesel and Johnson have supposedly squashed their beef, with confirmation both will be back for Fast & Furious 9. Statham and Theron are also likely to return for that entry, scheduled for April 2019. A tenth and final film is due for release in April 2021, almost 20 years after the first film.
The Fate of the Furious is currently in theaters and is the number one movie in the world.
Source: The Wrap
