Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is currently one of, if not the most well-known actor currently working in the industry. He has starred in numerous blockbuster films, including multiple appearances in The Fast and the Furious franchisewhich spawned his own spin-off with Jason Statham titled Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
Johnson has been named the highest paid actor in Hollywood multiple times throughout his career, holding the top spot in 2016, 2019 and 2020. The actor is getting one of the biggest roles of his life as he expands the DCEU with the upcoming comic book movie. Black Adam. It’s hard to believe that Hollywood executives wouldn’t believe in Johnson’s talent from the start. Yet the actor tells Good morning America it was a tough road as he transitioned from struggling superstar to feature films.
“I tried to think of times in the past [filming Black Adam] where I felt really limited. And as if I had the chains around me. And people who said to me, ‘Well, you can do it like this, you have to do it like this.’ For example, when I first arrived in Hollywood many moons ago, I was told – outside the world of pro wrestling – I was told, ‘Well, if you want to make it if you want to be a star’ – the biggest stars at the time were George Clooney and Johnny Depp and Will Smith. Then I was told, ‘You can’t call yourself The Rock. Don’t talk about pro wrestling. You need to lose weight, go on a diet, you’re too big, don’t go to the gym that often.'”
Johnson initially rose to fame when he joined the WWF (now the WWE) as a professional wrestler who talks nonsense. He helped introduce the Attitude era to the sport, helped lead the WWF to worldwide fame before appearing in his first film, The mummy returns.
Johnson says he himself led to success
Black Adam revolves around an antihero who is consistently told there is a certain way of doing things, while his character performs them completely differently. During his GMA interview, Johnson says he eventually learned to be himself in Hollywood, just like his Black Adam counterpart.
“There were a lot of things like that that I was told and if you don’t know any better, you have to believe it. And I dug into it for a few years before I said, ‘This ends now,'” Johnson explains. “‘And I’m going to be myself and if I fail, I won’t succeed in being myself.’ So I took advantage of that, because a lot of those elements surround Black Adam’s life. And his existence to be told that’s how you should do it.'”
Black Adam has long been a passion project for Johnson, and it’s now clear how he relates to the comic book character. Fans eagerly await the highly anticipated DCEU movie, Black Adamwhich hits theaters later this month on October 21.