Hey hey, somebody come get your boy because he’s dying out here. Dwayne Johnson just can’t do anything right at the moment. Not that his films have ever been critically-acclaimed, but for the last couple of years they’ve also been bombing at the box office, and a big part of the reason for the fan backlash against him has been things Johnson himself has said. The past week has seen Johnson defending himself against charges about unprofessional behavior on the set of his new holiday action-comedy Red One, and yet he just keeps on talking.
In a new featurette, Johnson tells an utterly bizarre story about watching Oppenheimer in IMAX, literally from Christopher Nolan’s favorite seat, and how it inspired him to do the same for Red One because it would be “game over”. Game over for who? The movie industry? I’m unclear on this but it sounds dumb.
“With ‘Red One,’ our intention was to make a movie that you can enjoy on the biggest screen possible,” he says. “Legitimately the biggest screens possible are Imax. I was midway through shooting ‘Red One’ and I had an opportunity to see ‘Oppenheimer.’ I watched in the IMAX theater where Christopher Nolan watches and screens his movies.”
“Him and Emma [Thomas], his wife. I even asked to let me sit where Chris sits. They said, ‘Chris sits here.’ I watch ‘Oppenheimer.’ It was amazing, but I was thinking: ‘Holy shit. ‘Red One’ on this screen and with this technology could be game over,'” Johnson continued. “I remember texting [director Jake Kasdan] a picture of my bare chest and a picture of the screen and we realized how cool [IMAX] would be.”
Seriously though, why is he texting anyone photos of his bare chest? Much less Jake Kasdan? Johnson probably has no idea why people are laughing at this but even having Red One in the same conversation with Nolan’s Best Picture winner is pretty funny.
Look, it’s easy to take shots at Johnson right now. I’ve done it myself and I am a big fan of the Final Boss and can’t wait for him to return to WWE. He might be hurting Red One by putting himself out there, and with a budget of $250M+ and Gladiator II coming up it can’t afford a poor opening weekend. They don’t even need him out there with Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and others in the star-powered comedy.
Red One is in theaters now, and The Rock really hopes you’ll see it in IMAX. I saw it in 4DX and can recommend it as a wild time in that format.
It’s gonna… rock! See what we did there, @TheRock? #RedOneMovie pic.twitter.com/H0pvoZSaG3
— IMAX (@IMAX) November 11, 2024
