Rumors have abounded for over a decade about just how much influence Vin Diesel holds over the Fast & Furious franchise, and according to the Producers Guild of America, it’s not as much as you’d think.
The actor has always been the cast member most heavily involved in development, something that isn’t up for debate, but his long-running feud with the PGA indicates that he’s not as hands-on as he’d like everyone to believe. Diesel hopped onto social media last year and claimed he was mitigating a war between Universal and the PGA over F9, but it turned out the dispute was all about him and the fact he still hasn’t been awarded the p.g.a. addendum in the credits, despite his desperate desire to attain it dating back to the fourth installment.
Another thing that can’t be argued is that he’s also the highest-paid part of the ensemble, pocketing an upfront salary of at least $20 million for the last few films, plus whatever he makes on the back-end as part of both performance-related bonuses and his status as the head of production company One Race Films.
Insider Daniel Richtman is now offering that the chrome-domed action star is getting an $80 million payday for the eleventh and final Fast & Furious installment, but the tipster doesn’t offer any additional information as to how or why the 53-year-old has managed to negotiate what would be the single biggest upfront salary in the history of cinema for himself.
$80 million isn’t out of the question when the dust settles and box office numbers are crunched, but it’s also twice as high as the largest lump sum ever handed out to an onscreen talent before a frame of film has been shot, so take that how you will.
