‘Red One’ Down: How Dwayne Johnson’s Tardiness Led to a $250 Million Runaway Production | Exclusive

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The Amazon MGM film was delayed to a November 2024 release

Dwayne Johnson in "Red One"
Dwayne Johnson in "Red One" (Chris Smith/TheWrap)

For more than two decades, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has nurtured a reputation as a hard-working, musclebound action-comedy movie star with considerable box-office drawing power. But “Red One,” a high-powered Christmas crowd-pleaser for Amazon MGM, has turned into a massive budgetary misadventure, casting Johnson’s fame and work ethic in a different light.

Originally slated for release during the 2023 Christmas season, the “Red One” theatrical release has been delayed to November 2024 — supposedly due to last year’s labor strikes. 

But the real story is a lot messier.

Production issues — ranging from Johnson’s chronic lateness and lack of professionalism on set to producers’ inexperience — caused costs on the movie costarring Chris Evans and J.K.

Umberto Gonzalez

Umberto has been covering the fanboy beat & breaking scoops for 20 years with numerous Hollywood trade, newspaper, & magazine mentions to his credit. Umberto has been profiled in such publications as The Washington Post, Variety and Grantland.

Comments

14 responses to “‘Red One’ Down: How Dwayne Johnson’s Tardiness Led to a $250 Million Runaway Production | Exclusive”

  1. Robin Rice Avatar
    Robin Rice

    Umberto, I’m really glad to see this information going public as a crew member (grip department) on multiple productions over the past 10+ years these situations need to be made public.. I worked with Dewayne on the Black Adam reshoots over 6 weeks and it’s a constant problem.. then, the insult to injury, is Dewayne, at wrap, comes to set (it was his birthday) and takes more of our time to announce he wanted to thank a few people with gifts and basically gave people on the production that make well over $300k a year a bottle of his tequila.. 

    Previously while working with Snoop Dogg every single crew member received a bottle of his Indogo Gin and Juice. 

    Lil Rel Howery is also a huge offender of wasting productions time.. Vacation Friends and Harold and the Purple Crayon.

    Taraji Henson single handedly had The Color Purple shoot 17 days over budget and was still a huge issue with being hours late to set, 

    Producers and productions are constantly and consistently having to approach actors/actresses about being late and they have to be cautious of their egos. 

    I’m no longer in the business due to an injury.. feel free to contact me for more dirt/tea. 

    Reply
  2. B.B. Boohay Avatar
    B.B. Boohay

    While I’m sure there is some truth to these reports (“where there’s smoke, there’s fire”), it’s not lost on me that this expose comes out not even a month after Johnson did an interview on Fox and said he doesn’t endorse Biden this time around in 2024 and admitted it was a mistake to do it last time.

    We see you Hollywood Democrats…..

    Reply
  3. Bridget S Avatar
    Bridget S

    So 90% of the copy in this article is about the persistent bad behavior of an actor in every project he’s involved in, from wrestling to films, and yet somehow in this case it’s due to the “inexperience” of a longstanding senior female exec? This is a known issue in the industry and no exec or studio has been able to solve it. Feels like an old, well known story that the Wrap is trying to retread by throwing a well respected exec under the bus. Yuck. 

    Reply
  4. Zach Avatar
    Zach

    What a hit piece.

    Reply
  5. Flex Cavana Avatar
    Flex Cavana

    I would like the 5 minutes of my life that it took to read such dribble back. Anonymous “Insiders” say that “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU WRITE” ….”The Rock” is still the “people’s champion” and we will always “Smellalalalallala what he is cooking”.

    Reply
  6. Red One Crewmember Avatar
    Red One Crewmember

    I worked as a crewmember on set every single day of Red One. This article is 90% bs. At most, DJ was an hour and a half late. There  were zero instances of him never showing up. He gave out almost $100,000 at Christmas to various crew members. The production and producers were extremely professional. And I really believe that as silly as the premise for this film is, people are going to love it. This whole article is just a weird hit piece. Don’t buy into it. 

    Reply
  7. Vickie Pleiss Avatar
    Vickie Pleiss

    Wow. How big of a bonus are you getting for these hit pieces, Umberto. Isn’t it embarrassing to be such a shill? You know, there are 49 other states out there, other than your little bubble you live in. So absolutely disgusted with someone who would go to such an effort to push such hate by a party who claims they are the t”tolerant” party. How’s this for tolerance. I don’t know if it’s true nor do I care. The obvious effort to harm tells more about you than anything “the Rock” supposedly did. And you wonder why most movies out of Hollywood are tanking. We aren’t buying what you are selling.. (or being paid for?!)

    Reply
  8. Creedence Clearwater Avatar
    Creedence Clearwater

    What a weird thing to be cancelled for lmao.

    Reply
  9. cadavra Avatar
    cadavra

    After finally wrapping “Some Like It Hot” despite Marilyn Monroe’s chronic lateness and other issues, Billy Wilder was asked if he’d ever work with her again. He replied, “I’m too old, too rich and too tired to go through that again.” Johnson better snap out of it if he wants to keep working at the level he’s accustomed to.

    Reply
    1. Anton Avatar
      Anton

      Written like a true fanboy. Shitty read, I want my time back.

      Reply
  10. Anton Avatar
    Anton

    Written like a true fanboy. Shitty read, I want my time back.

    Reply
  11. BBB Avatar
    BBB

    It’s not lost on me that this hit piece was written less than a month after DJ’s interview w/ Fox in which he said that he isn’t endorsing Biden in 2024 and regrets doing it in 2020. I’m sure some of this report is true in part and therefore some roasting is to be understood, but the timing of it definitely is interesting. Hollywood as well as Entertainment Media are propaganda tools of the Democrat Party so I guess it makes sense.

    Reply
  12. Joe Blo Avatar
    Joe Blo

    Someone wants the Rock cancelled.
    I like how sources are “insiders”.
    These reports have never been confirmed or brought up before.
    The only legit feud I can recall was with Vin Diesel and that was because Vin was showing up late and holding up production.

    Reply
  13. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Dwayne only has himself to blame for this hit piece when he decided to wade into politics. The moment he did that and then reneged on his endorsement, he put a target on his back.

    Reply

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