Dwayne Johnson has been accused of causing the budget for Red One to ‘spiral’ after chronically turning up late to work – as well as allegedly urinating in water bottles to ‘save time’ on other film sets.
The WWE favorite-turned Hollywood legend has commanded the screen in a number of flicks, including Black Adam, Moana, Jumanji and the Fast and Furious franchise.
The Rock is currently filming for the Amazon Prime flick alongside Chris Evans, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu and JK Simmons, directed by Jake Kasdan.
The movie, focusing on a bounty hunter teaming up with a formidable operative to save Christmas, after Santa Claus is kidnapped from the North pole, was originally slated to be released at the end of 2023, but was pushed back to November of this year after the recent strikes.
However, in a damning new expose, the 51-year-old is alleged to have sparked delays costing ‘at least $50million’ with his constant lateness, with the final budget thought to be more than $250million.
Insiders have told TheWrap that the crew was forced to shoot around Johnson on some days after he turned up late – with some suggesting he was ‘an average of seven to eight hours’ behind, and ended up missing entire days or production.
‘The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late,’ one source claimed, while another branded the shoot a ‘f**king disaster’.
Earlier this month, Johnson was thought to be three hours late to attend his main event at WrestleMania 40, and was later booed for turning up two hours behind schedule at a fan event in Philadelphia.
ABC6 reports that he addressed the jeers on stage and played up his wrestling villa persona when he told the crowd: ‘You’re booing because The Rock was a little late, that’s why you’re booing?
‘Now, The Rock has shown up, you got greatness in front of you — you stand there, shut your mouth and enjoy the ride that The Rock is taking you on.’
However, Chris Legentil – WWE executive vice president for talent relations and head of communications – has since shared that he was actually ‘hours early to help with rehearsal’, and was a ‘pleasure to work with’.
Aside from the ring, multiple sources who worked across many other of Johnson’s projects have noted his late arrivals on set – according to a former production assistant on his HBO series Ballers, he ‘was regularly three to four hours late to set. Keeping 100+ crew members waiting for no reason’.
The publication reports that an unnamed co-star on 2018’s Rampage would keep a ‘log of how late DJ was to set every day’, causing his call times to stop being published on the schedule.
It has been alleged that the tardiness is due to his absolute refusal to work more than a four-or five-hour day’.
This has reportedly led to clashes between Johnson and his co-stars on sets, with claims Vin Diesel was upset by his lateness while filming for the Fast and the Furious franchise.
The pair had a widely-publicized feud which led to Johnson’s brief exit from the franchise – before he returned at the very end of Fast X in 2023.
During filming for Netflix’s 2021 blockbuster Red Notice, it was alleged that he had a ‘huge fight’ with Ryan Reynolds, who became infuriated after waiting five hours for his colleague.
Johnson is believed to have stormed off set, with the stars only recently sorting out their differences ahead of a possible sequel.
Although Reynolds has not addressed the claims publicly, a Netflix spokesperson told the outlet: ‘Dwayne is the consummate professional and we’re thrilled to have worked with him on ‘Red Notice,’ our #1 film.’
As well as reports of his tardiness, Johnson is also facing claims that he tried to save time on set by urinating in a water bottle, before handing it to a member of his team to dispose of.
‘On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom,’ a source alleged. ‘He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it.’
He has spoken about his alternate use for bottles in the past, previously telling Esquire he ‘breaks out the bottle’ during intense workouts.
It must be noted that none of the insiders that TheWrap spoke to said that this occurred while filming Red One, while a further two denied that it had ever happened.
While Johnson has yet to respond to any reports publicly, sources close to production – and an unnamed person close to his Seven Bucks production company – insist that he was no more than one hour late to filming Red One on average.
They also denied that the budget veered from the original number that Amazon green lit.
A spokesperson for Amazon MGM added to the outlet: ‘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.
‘Our testing has been very strong — the reaction from CinemaCon speaks for itself — and we couldn’t have made it without Dwayne’s constant work and support. 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.’ (Metro)