Dwayne Johnson is one of Hollywood’s best action stars right now. From Skyscraper to Black Adam and more, his films mostly cater to commercial audiences and are meant to provide an enjoyable time at the theater. So thinking about physics and realism while watching a Dwayne Johnson film isn’t advised.
However, there was one action film for which Johnson as well as the director sought professional advice. It was to ensure that the project remained grounded in realism. However, in the end, one of the scientists complained that neither of them paid much heed to his words.
Dwayne Johnson Refused To Listen To Disaster Professional For His Action Film
San Andreas (2015) starring Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, and Alexandra Daddario is an action film that grossed $474 million globally on a $110 million budget. It follows Raymond Gaines (Johnson), an LA helicopter rescue pilot, trying to navigate a devastating earthquake that makes buildings collapse and causes tsunamis. Gugino plays his wife while Daddario portrays their daughter.
In the movie, the earthquake spreads from LA to San Francisco, devastating everything in its path. So there’s a lot of visual spectacle going on in the film. But The Rock wanted to ensure that the events shown in the film, especially the science shown regarding the earthquake, remained realistic to an extent. So director Brad Peyton called in USC and Caltech earthquake scientists and seismologists.
They concluded that the events shown in the movie could happen. But there was one scientist who didn’t agree with the others. In an interview with LA Times, USC professor and director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, Thomas Jordan said, “I gave them free advice, some of which they took… but much of which they didn’t – magnitude 9’s are too big for the San Andreas, and it can’t produce a big tsunami.”
But Jordan wasn’t totally dismissive. He praised the film for what it was- an entertaining action film. But he again reiterated that it wasn’t realistic. He said, “It’s a good action flick and spectacular special effects … but not realistic from a seismological point of view.” But Johnson didn’t care for the scientist’s words.
Dwayne Johnson Reveals A Massive Earthquake Could Hit The U.S. Anyday
In an interview with the Independent, Dwayne Johnson revealed that the country could be hit by a massive earthquake, similar to the one shown in San Andreas. He said, “The scientists we worked with said everything in the script could really happen. This sounds like a movie line but it’s not a matter of if but a matter of when. We’re 100 years overdue.” So it looks like The Rock doesn’t care for Thomas Jordan’s point of view.
The Rock’s fans were however skeptical of his words. But they hoped that the sequel, which was announced in 2016, would encourage Johnson to make a movie that was even more in line with what could actually happen. But it has been about 6 years and yet no sequel has materialized till now.
The last anyone ever heard of it was in 2021 when Hiram Garcia, Johnson’s business partner, announced that Warner Bros. was still on board for a sequel. It was their company, Seven Bucks Productions, that was delaying it to develop other projects. It remains to be seen if we will get to see San Andreas 2 any day or not.
San Andreas is available on HBO Max.
Source: Independent and LA Times
