Film & TV Editor Cillian Howley dives into Dwayne Johnson's career.
The brand of Dwayne Johnson is ‘success’. When the world met ‘The Rock’ in the late 1990s, he was quickly becoming a wrestling champion. With relative ease, Johnson transitioned to movie stardom – pushing major franchises to new heights. Billions of dollars at the box office later, Johnson is more than an actor; he is a brand. The top billed star of countless blockbusters, the face of his own tequila brand and an inspiration to fellow fighters turned actors. But what happens when unflinching success loses steam?
The answer comes neatly packaged in the brand new Johnson-starrer The Smashing Machine. The sports drama from acclaimed director Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems) and buzzy independent movie studio A24 premiered at this year’s Venice International Film Festival. In typical Hollywood meta casting, Johnson plays real-life wrestler Mark Kerr. All the Oscar bait boxes ticked.
The path from popcorn star to decorated actor is a well-trodden one. Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (2008) and Demi Moore in The Substance (2024) came nail-bitingly close to golden glory while Brendan Fraser made it over the line with 2022’s The Whale, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Like those before him, Johnson takes on a gritty, meaty role to showcase his untapped dramatic skills. Johnson, however, is no underdog in show business. No one is rooting for the comeback of a star who never left.
Johnson’s pivot is interestingly timed. Recent output from the action star has underwhelmed. Overly expensive vehicles including Jungle Cruise and Red One have failed to inspire enthusiasm with audiences (and Hollywood accountants, no doubt) while previously reliable franchise outings also faltered. Johnson returned to the Fast & Furious series at the exact wrong moment in 2023’s Fast X. An attempt to merge The Rock with superheroes, two mega brands, imploded. Narcissistic notions of taking over DC Studios with Black Adam set expectations high. The film’s inevitable critical and commercial failure resulted in a dispute between Johnson and major film publications over profitability. The unwillingness to admit defeat, on Johnson’s part, is a strategy necessary in maintaining his image as an ever successful multi-hyphenate.
On the press tour for Machine, the rebrand is truly taking hold. Johnson is disavowing his typecasting as a buff, action hero despite playing an active role in the making of his movies. What a coincidence that Johnson is ready for a more intimate film now his large-scale productions are falling short. It's hard to buy into a supposed authentic career shift that screams boardroom calculation. Moreover, The Rock is highlighting his weight loss for an upcoming role. Shedding his signature build feeds into the suggestion that Johnson now takes acting seriously. Of course, acting is apparently nothing more than offscreen, physical transformation.
Pounds of steroid fuelled muscle is not the only thing Johnson had to discard on his press tour-slash-Oscar campaign. A 2023 appeal for donations to wildfire relief charities in Hawaii alongside Oprah generated harsh backlash. The pair, worth billions between them, were criticised for being out of touch for asking the public to give money. Now, Johnson is positioning himself as a humble and deeply grateful man. Neither humility nor gratitude were displayed by the star on the set of last year’s Christmas adventure flick Red One (2024). Accounts of chronic lateness and urinating in bottles were reported by The Wrap and later confirmed by Johnson who downplayed the financial cost of his actions. A reputation rebuild is clearly needed not just with audiences but with major studios, also.
Consistently Hollywood’s top earner, Johnson has earned tens of millions of dollars for past roles. Appearing in a smaller budgeted film is another way for stars to virtue signal. Scarlett Johansson broadcast the small salary she took to star in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City - $4131 a week. Not much for an Avenger but more than many cinemagoers make a month. Forbes estimated a whopping $88 million income for Johnson in 2024. Any potential financial risks for The Smashing Machine will be easily offset by the actor. Johnson can afford to take a hit in the wallet – he has plenty of money, it is prestige on his radar. Esteem, acclaim and awards are the intended goal of the film.
Johnson has spent his life performing whether that be in the ring or on a soundstage. There is no doubt he knows how to deliver what audiences want. For the first time, however, Johnson has to display range and versatility. Viewers have grown tired of seeing The Rock in high speed chases and on jungle escapades. Criticisms have consistently focused on him ‘playing himself’ which makes his dramatic turn as a fighter seem like more of the same. The reality is that Johnson’s upcoming transformative role is not Mark Kerr - no, it is ‘serious actor’.