Dwayne Johnson Had A Disgusting On-Set Habit During Red One

It wasn't all that long ago that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was one of the few A-list stars in the world that seemingly everyone liked. Right alongside a small list that includes people such as Tom Hanks, Johnson had gone from pro wrestler to biggest movie star in the world and developed a wild amount of good will with the pop culture consuming public along the way (so much so that he was even teasing a possible run for President of the United States at one point).

Things have changed a bit over the past couple of years, however. Johnson hasn't had an outright hit movie in theaters since the pandemic began, with "Jungle Cruise" and "DC League of Super-Pets" disappointing theatrically. More notably, his DC superhero movie "Black Adam" failed to start a new franchise, even though Johnson seemed to be gunning to make himself the center of the DC Universe. There were also allegations of troubling on-set behavior on his most recent movie "Red One."

A report surfaced earlier this year alleging that The Rock peed in bottles on the "Red One" set rather than going to the bathroom, among other things. The actor was also reportedly late to set frequently, which created a host of other problems for the production, causing the holiday action film's budget to balloon to $250 million. Now, Johnson has addressed the situation directly.

In a cover story for GQ, Johnson both refuted the severity of those reports while also owning up to the peeing in bottles thing. "Not really man, they tried," Johnson said when it was noted that not many bad things are written about him online. "I pee in a bottle. Yeah, that happens." He also admitted to being late to set sometimes, though he did argue against the frequency of it:

"Yeah, that happens. But not that amount, by the way. That was a bananas amount. That's crazy. Ridiculous."

The problem with stories like this is that they can boil down to a "he said, she said" situation where there are two sides, with no knowing how accurate either one is. What's interesting, in this case, is that two of the biggest negative behaviors that were cited in the report earlier this year were behaviors that Johnson has now owned. It's just that he disagreed with the severity and the way it was framed in the original report.

"It was bulls**t," Johnson also said in the interview. "That was a whole other thing we can talk about, what that was. But it was like, 'Okay.' [shrugs]." For what it's worth, "Red One" director Jake Kasdan also spoke with GQ and had nothing but nice things to say about the Rock, having made three movies with him so far:

"[Dwayne] never missed a day of work ever. 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."

Whatever the case, one thing is certain; The Rock needs a hit right now. Whether or not "Red One" can be that box office success is a bit complicated, given its massive budget and the fact that it was originally supposed to go direct-to-streaming on Prime Video. But he's also got "Moana 2" just around the corner, and that seems like a surefire winner in the making. Beyond that, he's additionally slated to return to the "Fast & Furious" franchise as Hobbs, which is a bankable play.

In the same interview, the actor also talked a great deal about "The Smashing Machine," which has Johnson transforming into MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Directed by Benny Safdie ("Uncut Gems") and produced by A24, this is an opportunity for The Rock to flex his chops as a performer ... and maybe, just maybe, put this whole peeing in bottles business in the rearview mirror for good.

"Red One" hits theaters on November 15, 2024.