The long and contentious history of DC and Dwayne Johnson began in the mid-2000s when the then-rising star had begun to set his sights on major industrious achievements as an action hero in the making. His appearances in Fast Five in 2011 and Pain and Gain in 2013 solidified his position in the industry as an important chess piece entering the foray.
Soon after, his initiation into a game-changing genre of action mixed with comedy and grand adventures made The Rock a huge attraction. The family-friendly action hero promised sold-out theatres to major studios with each of his projects and as such became a huge asset to them as well. But even then, a star of his caliber was bound to stumble and fall at some point in his ever-burgeoning career.
Dwayne Johnson Relived Some Horrors of His Past With DC
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has had a difficult teenage life. With a disorienting home life that slapped him with an eviction notice followed shortly after by his mother’s suicide attempt, which not only happened in front of a teenage Johnson but burdened him with the knowledge of protecting her after saving her from oncoming traffic. Ata Johnson never remembered any of it, adding more to the distress of a family that would just as easily choose to erase from their traumatic memories as well.
Dwayne Johnson’s later years were defined by trying to navigate and circumvent his predestined path. Long before choosing a more artistically inclined option, Johnson had been told how he was the odd one out in every field he would venture into – be it wrestling, college football, or even acting. His days and nights and every waking hour in between were filled with rage at the world and people wanting him to change and fit more into a cookie-cutter model and that conforming to the norm was the only way he could secure the parts he so desperately wanted.
Dwayne Johnson Started a New Chapter With Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson’s passion project, Black Adam has been on the sidelines for far too long. During the promotional press junket for the film, the actor began to recall and share some of the stories from his past and how the film was not only an important turning point for DC, but his life as well.
“I thought about when I was wrestling and I was told ‘You have to be like this. You have to be like that. You have to go out and smile. You have to wrestle like this, act like this.’ And I thought this is not… this doesn’t feel right to me. I was playing angry back then about that until I switched over from Rocky Maivia to The Rock.
When I first got to Hollywood, they were telling me then, ‘Hey you wanna be like George Clooney or Will Smith or Johnny Depp, if you wanna be like them, then you can’t call yourself The Rock, you can’t talk about pro wrestling. You’re too big, lose weight, don’t go to the gym, and all that. And I tried that suit on for a couple of years until I finally said, ‘This ends now.’
I was playing angry again back then too. I fired everybody in my camp all around me, I hired new people because I said, ‘F– this. I gotta do it my way.’ So, point is, I tapped into that playing Black Adam – that forward-leaning, forward-facing rage.”
Dwayne Johnson’s DC intro as the anti-heroic counterpart to Superman and Shazam had a short-lived and controversial stay in the franchise. The film has now been unilaterally claimed as a critical flop despite garnering a strong initial response from the fans because of the return of Henry Cavill‘s Superman. However, much like Johnson’s experience with wrestling and Hollywood, even DC too gave him the boot, thus restricting him from any and all access to the mainstream universe.
Black Adam is available for streaming on MAX.
Source: Toronto Star
