Production of the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans-led Red One was messy, to say the least.
TheWrap published an exposé on the upcoming film. They detailed how Johnson derailed the production in many ways, including being late and the extreme measures he took to make up time.
Red One's issues
Back to Red One, the film's budget has reportedly ballooned over $250 million. TheWrap chalks the issues up to “Johnson's chronic lateness and lack of professionalism on set to producers' inexperience.”
According to the report, Johnson would show up “as much as eight hours late” to the set. This resulted in the crew having to shoot around him on some days. “Dwayne truly doesn't give a f**k,” an insider told TheWrap.
TheWrap notes that on previous days, Johnson made a habit of peeing into a water bottle to save time, which was not a popular decision amongst the crew.
“On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn't go to the public bathroom,” an insider told TheWrap. “He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it.”
Additionally, at CinemaCon, Amazon MGM premiered some footage of Red One. However, Johnson's publicist “handpicked” the journalists who were able to watch it. Even then, they were embargoed and couldn't write about it.
A spokesperson from Amazon MGM denied any issues with Red One. They also shut down the theory that Johnson's lateness and/or Steven Bucks' inexperience caused the film's delay.
Dwayne Johnson's history of repeated tardiness
The first big issue was Johnson's behavior. This is not a one-time occurrence exclusive to Red One, though. TheWrap's report noted that Johnson was “three to four” hours late to set on Ballers and “four to five” hours “daily” on Rampage. It was so bad that one of Johnson's co-stars began logging how late he was on the Rampage set.
Why exactly Johnson is like this is unclear. A studio insider discussed the matter in TheWrap's report, theorizing that it stems from Johnson's refusal to work a full shooting day. This even comes after he takes into account his daily three-hour workout.
“It's his absolute refusal to work more than a four-or-five-hour day,” they said. Another source said, “It's a control thing.”
This has caused clashes on sets. Vin Diesel famously had a feud with Johnson on the Fast and Furious sets. TheWrap's report included a story of a confrontation between Ryan Reynolds and Johnson, who starred in Netflix's Reed Notice together.
After waiting five hours for Johnson, Reynolds became infuriated and they got into a “huge fight” once Johnson did emerge. Johnson allegedly stormed off the set. The two didn't speak for years until they've reportedly “recently patched things up.”
However, Netflix is claiming the opposite. “Dwayne is the consummate professional and we're thrilled to have worked with him on Red Notice, our #1 film,” a spokesperson told TheWrap.
There were other issues. Johnson repeatedly broke strict quarantine rules on the set of Red Notice. He'd fly home repeatedly and even hosted a family and friends barbecue and still got COVID.
What is Red One?
Red One is a new Christmas action film directed by Jake Kasdan. Chris Morgan wrote the script based on an original story by Hiram Garcia.
Dwayne Johnson stars in the film alongside Chris Evans. Lucy Liu, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, J. K. Simmons, Nick Kroll, and Kiernan Shipka also star in the film. Johnson is also a producer of the film via his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, which he founded a dozen years ago with Dany Garcia.
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