Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has shared that the reason behind his slimmed-down physique is for a role in a new film, where he plays a character called the Chicken Man.
The 53-year-old was at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month promoting his newest role as MMA fighter and UFC pioneer Mark Kerr in the Benny Safdie-directed new biopic, The Smashing Machine.
At the festival, photographs showing his noticeable weight loss began to go viral, with fans joking that the actor now resembled “The Pebble”.
According to reports, he lost around 60lbs (27kg) to bring his weight closer to 240lbs (108.8kg) than his usual 300lbs (136kg).
However, Johnson has now shared he needs to slim down even further, in preparation for a role as a “whimsical, eccentric 70-something year-old” called Chicken Man for Safdie’s forthcoming film Lizard Music.
“A little bit of backstory for you guys here is Benny pitched me this after we wrapped The Smashing Machine, and after about 45 minutes, his pitch ended, and I said, ‘I am your Chicken Man,’” Johnson said at a career retrospective talk at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday. “Now what that means is, without giving too much away, the role that I will play is a very whimsical and eccentric 70-something-year-old man called the Chicken Man, and his best friend is a 70-something-year-old chicken.”
The Fast & Furious star acknowledged that he still had more work to do before he completely resembled the Chicken Man.
“I still have a long ways to go,” he said. “I’m so excited to get a chance to hopefully transform again like I was able to do in Smashing Machine. [It means] eating less chicken.”
Lizard Music is reportedly an adaptation of a Daniel Pinkwater novel of the same name, following a young boy who meets the Chicken Man and his best friend, a 70-year-old chicken named Claudia.
Johnson has recently talked about how he felt “pigeonholed” in big blockbuster films, but now wants to do more.
“I had this burning desire and voice that was saying, ‘What if there is more and what if I can?’ A lot of times, it’s harder for us – or at least for me – to know what you are capable of when you’ve been pigeonholed into something,” he said at a press conference for The Smashing Machine in Venice.
The film opened to a 15-minute standing ovation at the festival, bringing Johnson to tears. Early reviews of the film have already tipped Johnson for awards season recognition.
Kerr was a two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion, World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner, and a Pride FC competitor. He was previously the subject of a 2003 HBO documentary, also titled The Smashing Machine after Kerr’s longtime nickname.
In The Independent’s five-star review of the film, Geoffrey Macnab wrote: “Safdie is forcing one of Hollywood’s most popular mainstream stars to grapple with parts of his personality that are usually left untouched. Johnson gives a performance of immense pathos, intensity and depth – one that looks bound to win him awards recognition.”
Macnab continued: “Co-star Emily Blunt (who previously worked with Johnson in the goofy action comedy Jungle Cruise) is likewise a long way out of her comfort zone as the wrestler’s loyal but emotionally unstable girlfriend. She is both his biggest support, and, at times, the agent of his destruction.”
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