Dwayne Johnson has admitted to those unbecoming rumors about things he does while shooting films, and we’re not talking about feuding with Vin Diesel over whose biceps fill the frame in The Fast and the Furious movies.
When asked about the pervasive rumor that he urinates into water bottles on set to save time, Johnson candidly told GQ, “Yeah. That happens.”
The gossip first circulated when an expose on Red One’s “$250 million runaway production” was unleashed by The Wrap. The exclusive report goes into detail on how Johnson’s tardiness on set allegedly led to an overstretched budget and frustrated co-stars.
“On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom,” a source close to the production claimed. “He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it.”
Johnson admitted to this pee practice in 2021, when he said he sometimes had to take bladder breaks during gym workouts and crack open a bottle. He said in an Esquire video, “I need to go to the bathroom a lot. Not a lot, but probably a couple of times during a workout I have to go to the bathroom. So I break out the bottle.”
Additionally, there’s a 2017 Instagram video where this is evidenced in a, you guessed it, Voss bottle. He said, “I go hardcore when I train. I find a bottle, I pee in it and I keep training like a beast.”
It was a little befuddling at the time, but little did we know he was doing this on the set of blockbuster movies and having some poor assistant walk off with his warm bodily fluids in hand.
Red One red flags
When he resorted to it on the set of Red One, the Christmas film was already behind schedule. Delayed release dates were blamed on the Hollywood strikes in 2023; the true story was more complicated. Sources said Johnson was constantly late, and therefore the pressure kept piling on to get things moving.
The WWE superstar-turned-actor often boasts about his work ethic, which is hard to question when you look at his chiseled body and successful businesses. However, Johnson’s version of working hard apparently didn’t mesh with the crew’s.
Sources alleged his “chronic lateness” contributed to an inflated budget that rose to a quarter of a million dollars and the release date changing from Christmas 2023 to Nov. 2024. He apparently “showed up as much as eight hours late to set on the movie, forcing the crew to shoot around him on some days.”
Amazon MGM, the film’s theatrical distributor, promptly tried to shoot down the negative chatter in an interview with The Wrap. “We couldn’t have made it without Dwayne’s constant work and support. Any reporting that implies that we got to this point with him showing up seven to eight hours late to set is both ridiculous and false.”
The GQ article that confirmed he pees into bottles on set also mentioned a packed schedule. Johnson was recently in Japan, finishing the sports drama The Smashing Machine. He then appeared at a Disney event to announce he’ll star in Monster Jam. And in fall 2024, Red One and Moana 2 will be released. Not to mention he’ll soon shoot the live-action Moana.
There’s an argument to be made that being so busy you have to go to the bathroom in plastic containers at work is counterproductive. But something tells us Johnson isn’t ready or willing to entertain that idea.
Published: Nov 11, 2024 03:10 pm