Dwayne Johnson He is now the biggest movie star in the world, literally and otherwise. For years, he's remained at the top of our highest-paid actor lists, thanks to a string of hits like quick fiveAnd the MoanaAnd the Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle.
Johnson's success was all the more impressive because he came to Hollywood by road Professional wrestling, which up to that point had not resulted in any movie star crossovers. Sure, the wrestler might have a good supporting role here or there (like Andre the Giant in princess bride), or they might pick up some work in action movies, but even the sport's biggest names, like Hulk Hogan and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, quickly faded as leading men. Many WWE wrestlers have followed Johnson's path, such as Dave Bautista and John Cena, but 20 years ago, going from sports star to legitimate movie star wasn't unheard of.
Which makes this clip even more impressive. It's from the March 2000 episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Johnson is the first guest. He was there to promote WrestleMania that year. Film critic Roger Ebert He is the second guest - and when he comes out he begins his segment with a bold prediction:
"this is The man will be a pioneer Movie star ".
At the time, Johnson had never been in a movie before.
Presumably, Ebert based his prediction on watching Johnson's host Saturday Night Live, where he was "very relaxed" and "such a natural comedian". Ebert ordered Johnson to "get out of the fight as quickly as possible" because he might get injured.
After thanking Ebert for the compliment, he noticed that he was working on his first film at the time, 2001 The return of the mummy. "So when it comes out..." Johnson slowed down before sticking his thumb in the air.
Alas, The return of the mummy He didn't get a thumbs up from Ebert when it came out the following year. But in his two-star review, Ebert doubled down on his expectations. he wrote:
The ads give The Rock, a World Wrestling Federation superstar, equal billing with [Brendan] Fraser. This is bait and switch. To call his appearance a "cameo" would be a stretch. He appears briefly at the beginning of the movie, transforms into a kind of transparent skeletal fascia and disappears until the end of the movie, when he returns as the fearsome Scorpion King. I'm not sure, after all, if we saw the real rock or just his face, related to computer-generated effects (his scorpion was blown to great size, to the unfortunate effect of making it look more like a lobster tail than a scorpion). I still think the rock is ahead of him is an acting career, and after watching this movie I think he still has a career ahead of him.
Ebert was right, it was his questionable appearance in The return of the mummy however. It's like he's really good at his job or something!
Also, I highly recommend watching the full interview with Johnson for the part where Jay Leno asks him his real name - that until now most people only knew him as "The Rock" - and then makes fun of him when he finds out his name is Dwayne. Not cool, Jay.
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