Since the entertainment industry started keeping an eye out for people following in the footsteps of legendary actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, Dwayne Johnson wasn’t the only professional wrestler to become a Hollywood celebrity. However, in contrast to the legendary debuts and career-defining roles played by the aforementioned icons, The Rock’s name did not become ingrained inside the business with his debut.
He wasn’t greeted at the door by wildly popular series like The Terminator and Rocky. A victim of terrible CGI and a bad script, the actor who played a C-grade antagonist opposite Brendan Fraser in The Mummy Returns was almost ready to give up on his Hollywood ambition even before the film had even started.
Dwayne Johnson Recalls His Early Years in Hollywood
In a decade-old interview with Howard Stern, Dwayne Johnson discussed how his debut in Hollywood was not affected by his already-established reputation in the industry founded on fame and success. The DCU star’s revelation proves that the actor’s current rapport as the lovable and approachable persona was one that had to be inculcated through the years, not something that he emanated from the very beginning.
“So, celebrities they shy away from me. Yeah, like they can’t talk to me or something. I don’t know what it is.”
The Rock’s career hadn’t taken too long before catapulting to the heights of success. The star eventually found his specialty in the action genre, leading films that attracted crowds to the theatres like no other.
How The Rock Climbed to the Top Rungs of Success
The Black Adam actor began his career in a field that was thriving thanks to a production age that permanently changed what moviegoers across the world might expect from a movie. Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and Harry Potter franchises, along with action-packed series like Fast & Furious, Mission: Impossible, and Jason Bourne, dominated the global box office throughout the decade from 2000 to 2009. Unfortunately, the third installment of Brendan Fraser’s Mummy trilogy came to an end amid this century’s period of technological advancement.
In addition to Fraser’s career coming to an end (due to horrific treachery at an HFPA function), this third installment of the Mummy series also marked the beginning of an ambitious actor who would go on to become the highest-paid artist a decade later. The Rock made the most of the screen time he was given, despite the fact that the movie had a modest budget and a poorly written storyline, but he soon discovered that the business was far more challenging than he had anticipated, even for well-endowed debutantes.
Dwayne Johnson particularly recalls in an interview with Howard Stern how he was asked to change his physical appearance if he wanted to move ahead with his career in acting. The leading men in Hollywood romcoms don’t look like they benchpress 200 lbs every day before leaving home for their designated meet cute moments and finding their one true love. That did not sit well with the WWE champion and he spun his career to suit his physique instead of changing the latter to accommodate the former. The result? The Rock is the #1 leading man of the highest-grossing action flicks of the past decade and the highest-paid star of 2022
