While Dwayne Johnson’s highly anticipated action-adventure comedy film Red One is in production, a new report suggests that his tardiness has caused costs to balloon astronomically.
As per a new report, Dwayne Johnson shows up as much as eight hours late to set on the movie. (Image: Dwayne Johnson/Facebook) One of the highest paid movie stars in the world, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been accused of habitual tardiness and unprofessionalism by several people associated with his upcoming movie Red One. Co-starring Chris Evans, the film’s budget has reportedly increased by $50 million because Johnson would regularly show up seven to eight hours late to set. The Wrap reported that Amazon has delayed the film by a year because of on-set troubles.
Red One, directed by Jumanji: The Next Level helmer Jake Kasdan, is produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with Seven Bucks Productions, The Detective Agency and Chris Morgan Productions. Contrary to rumours of labor strikes causing the delay from a 2023 Christmas release to November 2024, The Wrap’s report points to production challenges. These include Johnson’s habitual tardiness and unprofessionalism on set, along with the inexperience of producers, contributing to the budget rising to a staggering $250 million.
The publication, quoting many unnamed insiders directly involved in the project, reported that Johnson shows up as much as eight hours late to set on the movie. The troubles with him don’t end there. “On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom. He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it,” an insider said. “The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late,” another source mentioned. Johnson was late an average of seven to eight hours per day and missed several entire days of production, ballooning costs by at least $50 million according to three insiders. “It was a f–king disaster,” one insider said, “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f–k,” another one noted.
According to the report, this isn’t a new issue and persisted even during the filming of the TV series Ballers in which he played the lead role. “He was regularly three to four hours late to set. Keeping 100+ crew members waiting for no reason,” a producer who visited its set said. On the set of Rampage, Johnson was late an average of four to five hours daily, with one costar keeping records of his tardiness, according to two insiders. The reasons behind Johnson’s perpetual lateness seem to stem from his refusal to work a full shooting day, despite factoring in his three-hour daily workout routine.
Johnson’s behaviour has led to confrontations with co-stars, most famously Vin Diesel. “Vin has been having problems with The Rock because The Rock keeps showing up late for production,” an insider told People. “Sometimes he doesn’t show up at all, and he’s delaying the production.” A ‘huge fight’ broke out between him and his Red Notice co-star Ryan Reynolds, and they reportedly didn’t speak for years until recently patching things up.
Reportedly, his tardiness goes beyond the realm of cinema, and he was three hours late arriving ahead of his main event match at WrestleMania 40, a professional annual wrestling event organised by WWE.
Furthermore, the report also claimed that the relative inexperience of the film’s lead producer, Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions, and Amazon MGM feature and production executives, Julie Rapaport and Glenn Gainor, has worsened the situation.
However, in a statement to The Wrap, a spokesperson for Amazon MGM denied there were any on-set issues with Red One or delays caused by Johnson’s lateness or Seven Bucks’ inexperience, which caused the film budget to balloon. “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. 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.” Separate denials were also issued by Netflix and persons close to Red One and Red Notice.
