It has been noted that since his return to WWE earlier this year, The Rock truly established himself as a powerhouse once again. While The Rock’s time with WWE concluded after WrestleMania 40, he has other Hollywood projects on the cards. However, it appears The Rock allegedly led to a significant loss for the ‘Red One’ movie.
“Red One,” has been the high-budget Amazon MGM project featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans, and J.K. Simmons and it has faced considerable production issues that have delayed its release from the 2023 Christmas season to November 2024.
It has come to light that while the labor strikes of 2023 were initially cited as the cause, insiders claim that the real reasons are much more complex, involving chronic lateness, production inexperience, and overall mismanagement.
According to The Wrap, the film’s budget has exceeded $250 million, a figure more commonly associated with superhero blockbusters, due to various production issues. These problems are allegedly tied to Johnson’s persistent lateness and lack of professionalism on set, coupled with the inexperience of lead producer Hiram Garcia and Amazon MGM feature and production executives Julie Rapaport and Glenn Gainor.
Insiders claim that Johnson’s lateness caused significant delays and additional costs. It is noted that he often showed up as much as eight hours late, forcing the crew to shoot around him, and in some instances, missed entire days of production.
This behavior reportedly added at least $50 million to the film’s budget. Johnson has also developed a reputation for unconventional on-set habits, such as urinating in a water bottle to avoid using public restrooms, and requiring his team or production assistants to dispose of the bottles.
“On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom,” said one insider who knows the movie star well. “He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it.”
“The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late.”
Despite Johnson’s public persona as “the hardest worker in the room,” the reports suggest a different conduct on set, with one insider bluntly stating, “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f–k.”
In response to these claims, sources close to the production and Seven Bucks (Johnson’s production company) asserted that Johnson was no more than one hour late to set on average.
Another source from Amazon MGM stated that the budget fluctuations were within the expected range, indicating no major deviations from the original $250 million budget.
“It is completely normal for there to be budget fluctuations within 15% of the target, which is exactly what we experienced.”
