Dwayne Johnson was chronically late on Red One, reportedly costing millions, but the studio denies it. And then there’s the pee bottles.
Dwayne Johnson is typically seen as an extremely hard-working dude who juggles a variety of projects ranging from movies, TV shows, the WWE, and even his own brand of tequila, but a new report alleges that the actor’s work ethic actually leaves something to be desired.
According to an extensive report by The Wrap, Dwayne Johnson suffers from “chronic lateness,” allegedly showing up to set as much as eight hours late. This behaviour reportedly contributed to the budget of Red One, his upcoming Christmas movie for Amazon MGM, spiralling over $250 million. Yikes.
“The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late,” said one insider. The report states that Johnson was late on average of seven to eight hours per day and even missed several entire days. According to the insiders quoted in the report, this cost the production at least $50 million. “It was a f***ing disaster,” the insider said. “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f***.” However, other sources say that Johnson was never more than an hour late to set and a spokesperson for Amazon MGM flat out denied any issues.
“Dwayne Johnson and Seven Bucks have been incredible partners on ‘Red One’—a film that audiences of all ages are going to love this holiday season,” the spokesperson said. “Our testing has been very strong — the reaction from CinemaCon speaks for itself — and we couldn’t have made it without Dwayne’s constant work and support. Any reporting that implies that we got to this point with him showing up seven-eight hours late to set is both ridiculous and false.“
Johnson’s issue with tardiness aren’t just confined to Red One, as other sources say he exhibited similar behaviour on other projects, including Ballers. A former production assistant on the HBO series said Johnson was “regularly three to four hours late to set. Keeping 100+ crew members waiting for no reason.” One of Johnson’s co-stars on Rampage even kept a record of when Dwayne would show up on set, which was reportedly an average of four to five hours late daily. As for the reason why, one studio insider said it stems from “his absolute refusal to work more than a four-or-five hour day,” with another suggesting, “It’s a control thing.“
The chronic lateness contributed to fights with costars, including Vin Diesel on the Fast & Furious movies and Ryan Reynolds on Red Notice. The report added that Johnson and Reynolds had a “huge fight” on set after Reynolds was fed up with Johnson’s tardiness, but that the pair later patched things up.
In addition to the chronic lateness, the report also claims that Johnson has another habit on set — peeing in water bottles. “On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom,” one insider said. “He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it.” This is something the actor has previously admitted to during his workouts in order to save time, but another insider claimed that Johnson would never ask a production assistant or anyone else to dispose of his pee bottles.
What do you make of this? Does Dwayne Johnson strike you as someone who would show up eight hours late?