Dwayne Johnson admitted in a new GQ magazine cover story that he is late to set sometimes and has peed in water bottles to save time during filming, two claims that were at the center of a viral report from The Wrap earlier this year. The story alleged that Johnson’s behavior, especially his tardiness on set, drove the budget of his new Christmas movie “Red One” up to a staggering $250 million. Insiders told The Wrap that Johnson could be as much as eight hours late to set some days.
“Yeah, that happens,” Johnson admitted to GQ. “But not that amount, by the way. That was a bananas amount. That’s crazy. Ridiculous.”
The Wrap also reported that Johnson had made it a habit on his movies of peeing in water bottles when he wasn’t near his trailer in order not to waste time by going to the public restroom. Johnson also admitted to GQ: “Yeah. That happens…I’ve said a thousand times: ‘Hey, I’m here. Come and ask me. And I’ll tell you the truth.’”
But even though he is sometimes late to set and pees in bottles, Johnson said the overall controversy that the report caused was “bullshit.” His “Red One” director Jake Kasdan and co-star Chris Evans would appear to agree and defended the actor.
“[Dwayne] never missed a day of work ever,” Kasdan told GQ. “He has a lot going on. He can be late sometimes, but such is Hollywood — that’s the case with everybody. Honestly, I’ve made three big movies with him. I’ve never seen him be anything but great to every single person on the set.”
Evans echoed the sentiment, saying: “In terms of the guy that I saw, compared to some of the things I’ve seen on other movies with other actors who are not only not conscious of other people’s time and efforts, but they’re unpredictable? I found Dwayne to be — we all know exactly what he’s going to do when he’s going to do it.”
Johnson would frequently work out in the mornings before coming to set, Evans explained, adding: “But this is something that the producers, the director, and it’s all his team, so they all know this. So it’s all basic. It’s not like he’s late unexpectedly, and I wouldn’t even call it late. He comes in slightly later on certain mornings, but it’s part of the plan. It’s worked into the schedules and everyone knows it, so he shows up when he’s scheduled to show up.”
Evans minimized the controversy involving Johnson’s set behavior by spotlighting how great said behavior could be sometimes, including one day on set where Johnson gave out a combined $100,000 to various crew members.
“The [giveaway] pot was up to four or five grand or something, and before they pulled the name out, Dwayne said, ‘What’s the pot at right now?’” Evans recalled. “And someone said, ‘I don’t know, four grand.’ And he said, ‘Let’s call it 20.’ And they pulled out a name and whoever won was losing it. Dwayne said, ‘You know what? Should we do it again? How about 30 this time?’ Everyone goes nuts. And then he says, ‘You know what? How about one more?’ And it was 50. I think on one Friday, Dwayne gave away something like close to a hundred thousand dollars.”
“Red One” opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 15 from Amazon MGM Studios. Head over to GQ’s website to read Johnson’s cover story in its entirety.
From Variety US