Paul Walter Hauser Tells Interviewer: ‘Please Don’t Say’ I’m ‘Like Vin Diesel’ Because ‘I Like to Think I’m on Time and Approachable’

Paul Walter Hauser‘s interview with CinemaBlend at the “Inside Out 2” press junket is gaining traction on social media for one viral moment in which the Emmy-winning actor calls out Vin Diesel for stories about Diesel allegedly mistreating cast and crew on set. The two actors have not worked together — and it appears that Hauser is not interested due to what he’s heard about Diesel.

When the CinemaBlend interviewer told Hauser that his arc in “Inside Out 2” means “you’re like Vin Diesel now,” the actor responded: “Please don’t say that.”

“I like to think I am on time and approachable,” Hauser said, alluding to stories he’s heard that Diesel is not. “I love people, but when I hear stories about Hollywood actors who get paid really well and mistreat people… I out them constantly, and it’s a blast.”

Variety has reached out to Vin Diesel’s representative for further comment.

Reports have surfaced over the years about Diesel being late to set, which allegedly is one reason he feuded with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson during the making of the “Fast & Furious” franchise. However, Diesel told Men’s Health in 2021 that it was the “tough love” he gave Johnson in trying to get a great performance out of him that drove a wedge between them.

“It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character,” Diesel said at the time. “My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be. As a producer to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know.’”

Diesel maintained that he needed to step in to get the Hobbs performance he wanted out of Johnson. Diesel said, “Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic. That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”

Johnson and Diesel have apparently settled their feud, with Johnson returning to the “Fast” franchise in the credits sequence of “Fast X.”

Last year, a former assistant to Diesel sued the actor and alleged that in 2010 he pinned her against a wall in a hotel suite and masturbated in front of her. The actor has “categorically denied” the allegations against him.