For most of his career, Dwayne Johnson / The Rock has forged a reputation as a hardworking, dependable, likable actor with a boatload of charisma, leading superhero movies, actioners, and 4-quadrant friendly comedies. During his “Fast And Furious” days, Johnson butted heads with the franchise star Vin Diesel, reportedly over the latter’s lackadaisical schedule and unprofessional reputation. Yet, in an exclusive report from TheWrap, Johnson’s supposed sterling work ethic is being put into a different light.
Johnson’s upcoming Christmas action-adventure comedy film “Red One,” co-starring Chris Evans, was initially scheduled to be released in the holiday season of 2023 but was ultimately delayed to November 15, 2024, due to last year’s actor and writer strikes.
However, according to the damaging Wrap’s report, Johnson’s behavior on set surely didn’t help keep the film on schedule. Production problems, which included producers’ inexperience and Johnson’s chronic tardiness and lack of professionalism on set, allegedly drove up the cost of the film to a final budget of over $250 million. This is a price tag that you would typically see for a blockbuster superhero picture or a Disney film, not a Christmas movie.
“Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f–k,” one anonymous insider put it bluntly.
“It was a f–king disaster,” another anonymous insider said, noting that the production crew was forced to shoot around him when Johnson didn’t show up to set.
Over a dozen insiders sourced for the article said many of the issues were worsened by the inexperience of Hiram Garcia, the film’s lead producer, and Julie Rapaport and Glenn Gainor, the feature and production executives of Amazon MGM, who are in charge of the project.
On some occasions, Johnson allegedly arrives to set sometimes eight hours late, forcing the crew to shoot around him. Also, the report claims Johnson would frequently urinate in a water bottle on set to save time, leading to much disgust from the crew members charged with disposing of it.
“Red One” also co-stars J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, and Nick Kroll. Directed by Jake Kasdan, who directed Johnson twice already in “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (2017) and “Jumanji: The Next Level” (2019), “Red One” centers on a villain who kidnaps Santa Claus from the North Pole, after which an E.L.F. (Extremely Large and Formidable) operative joins forces with a bounty hunter to find Santa and save Christmas.
Johnson has yet to respond to the article, but knowing how he is vocal on social media, he’ll likely weigh in by the end of the day. A spokesperson for Amazon MGM told TheWrap that there were zero on-set issues while filming “Red One” and basically denied all of the claims.
“Red One” is scheduled to be released theatrically on November 15, 2024. More on this story as it develops.