Earlier this year, The Wrap ran a story alleging that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's behaviour on the set of Red One had driven the movie's budget up to a massive $250 million.
That came as a result of his frequent tardiness, with insiders claiming he'd frequently show up as much as eight hours late on some days.
In a new GQ profile (via ComicBookMovie.com), Johnson was asked about his supposed bouts of lateness and said, "Yeah, that happens. But not that amount, by the way. That was a bananas amount. That’s crazy. Ridiculous."
As for the reports he pees in bottles on set to save time by not using the public restroom, Johnson admitted, "Yeah. That happens...I’ve said a thousand times: ‘Hey, I’m here. Come and ask me. And I’ll tell you the truth.'"
The WWE Superstar and Hollywood A-Lister added that the controversy and backlash from those reports was "bullshit," with both Red One director Jake Kasdan and co-star Chris Evans on hand to defend him.
"[Dwayne] never missed a day of work ever," the filmmaker stated. "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."
Evans added, "In terms of the guy that I saw, compared to some of the things I’ve seen on other movies with other actors who are not only not conscious of other people’s time and efforts, but they’re unpredictable? I found Dwayne to be — we all know exactly what he’s going to do when he’s going to do it."
"But this is something that the producers, the director, and it’s all his team, so they all know this. So it’s all basic. It’s not like he’s late unexpectedly, and I wouldn’t even call it late," the Captain America actor continued. "He comes in slightly later on certain mornings, but it’s part of the plan. It’s worked into the schedules and everyone knows it, so he shows up when he’s scheduled to show up."
Elsewhere in the piece, Evans further defends Johnson by pointing out how he gave crew members working on Red One a combined $100,000 in bonuses.
"The [giveaway] pot was up to four or five grand or something, and before they pulled the name out, Dwayne said, ‘What’s the pot at right now?’" Evans recalled. "And someone said, ‘I don’t know, four grand.’ And he said, ‘Let’s call it 20.’ And they pulled out a name and whoever won was losing it. Dwayne said, ‘You know what? Should we do it again? How about 30 this time?’ Everyone goes nuts."
"And then he says, ‘You know what? How about one more?’ And it was 50. I think on one Friday, Dwayne gave away something like close to a hundred thousand dollars," he concluded.
There are stranger and far worse stories about actors in Hollywood than showing up late and peeing in bottles, so we're sure no one is sweating this too much, least of all Johnson.
After a bad run which saw Black Adam flop in 2022 and the cancellation of his sitcom Young Rock, Red One sits at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes and made only $26.6 million at the international box office this weekend. The hope now is that it will find a bigger audience on streaming seeing as it was originally developed for Prime Video.
It's still unclear when Johnson will return to WWE following his Bad Blood cameo, though he is factored into the company's WrestleMania plans next April.