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Dwayne Johnson addresses a damning report about the apparent ballooning of Red One‘s budget. Directed by Jake Kasdan, the upcoming Christmas film sees Johnson starring as Callum Drift, head of security at the North Pole, who must team up with a bounty hunter, played by Chris Evans, after Santa (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped. The film was the subject of a report from TheWrap earlier this year, which claimed that Johnson frequently urinated into water bottles on set while also regularly being seven or more hours late, ballooning the film’s budget to $250 million.
In a recent interview with GQ, Johnson addresses these claims about his behavior on the Red One set, admitting that there is some truth to some of the claims. Regarding peeing in a bottle, Johnson reveals that “Yeah. That happens.” The actor, who calls the entire controversy “bullsh*t,” admits that he was sometimes late, too, but not to the extent outlined in TheWrap‘s report:
“Yeah, that happens too. But not that amount, by the way. That was a bananas amount. That’s crazy. Ridiculous.”
Kasdan comes to Johnson’s defence in the matter, revealing that the actor “never missed a day of work ever. He has a lot going on. He can be late sometimes, but such is Hollywood—that’s the case with everybody. Honestly, I’ve made three big movies with him. I’ve never seen him be anything but great to every single person on the set.”
Evans also shared kind words about Johnson and his work ethic, explaining that his Red One costar was more considerate and predictable, which is more than he can say of his costars on other projects:
“In terms of the guy that I saw, compared to some of the things I’ve seen on other movies with other actors who are not only not conscious of other people’s time and efforts, but they’re unpredictable? I found Dwayne to be—we all know exactly what he’s going to do when he’s going to do it.”
Johnson’s morning workouts were cited in the report as a reason for his tardiness, and, while the actor did workout in the morning before coming to set, Evans reveals that this was built into the film’s shooting schedule:
“But this is something that the producers, the director, and it’s all his team, so they all know this. So it’s all basic. It’s not like he’s late unexpectedly, and I wouldn’t even call it late. He comes in slightly later on certain mornings, but it’s part of the plan. It’s worked into the schedules and everyone knows it, so he shows up when he’s scheduled to show up.”
Adding a final word on the entire controversy, Johnson makes clear that he’s an open book: “I’ve said a thousand times: ‘Hey, I’m here. Come and ask me. And I’ll tell you the truth.’ ”
More to come…
Source: GQ
