Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shocked WWE and movie fans with his shocking weight loss last week. In a new interview, he has revealed the reason behind dropping well over 30 pounds of muscle, and the odd movie it is for.
The Rock and the cast and crew of his new film, The Smashing Machine, are at the Toronto Film Festival this week to premiere the upcoming picture that has earned him legit Oscar buzz. However, last week he made headlines for looking far slimmer than fans have seen him in a decade.
During a Q&A event on Monday, the Hollywood superstar explained why he decided to drop a stunning amount of weight. This is for a new film he is working on with his Smashing Machine director, Benny Safdie, in which he will play a character who has a 70-year-old chicken as a friend.
“Benny pitched me this after [The Smashing Machine],” Johnson said [h/t Variety]. “And after about 45 minutes, this pitch ended and I said, ‘I am your Chicken Man… 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.”
The WWE legend’s new project is based on a Daniel Pinkwater book that tells the story of a septuagenarian whose best friend is a 70-year-old chicken.
The Rock moving away from action movies?
During the Q&A, The Rock admitted his role in The Smashing Machine, and his next film is a concerted effort from him to break a perception of what he can do as an actor. And he claims that the narrative about him has led to being “pigeonholed” by movie studios.
“I felt for a few years, I was pigeonholed because I allowed it to happen. Smashing Machine is for me,” he said.
Johnson also added he loves the action and comedy movies he’s done in the past. And while he is broadening his acting horizons right now, he plans to go back to those genres eventually.
