Dwayne Johnson’s recent weight loss has stunned fans, with many wondering why the famously muscled star was shedding pounds by the day. The 53-year-old finally opened up about his unexpected transformation during a panel at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday, sharing that he had been working hard to lose weight for an upcoming role in Lizard Music. The film will be helmed by Benny Safdie, who directed Dwayne in The Smashing Machine, a project which has garnered critical acclaim in recent weeks.
Speaking on the panel, the former WWE star shared the unexpected career update with the audience. “We’re gonna make a film called Lizard Music, which is based off of a novel written by Daniel Pinkwater,” he explained, adding that his role is “a very whimsical and eccentric 70-something-year-old man called the Chicken Man. And his best friend is a 70-something-year-old chicken.”
“I’m so excited because I get a chance to hopefully transform again, like I was able to do in Smashing Machine. Can’t wait,” he continued, quipping that he was eating “less chicken” in order to shed the pounds. “This is me slimmed down,” Dwayne said. “In the process of slimming down. I still have a long way to go.”
He then shared more insight into the role, revealing that Benny sold him on the movie pitch in less than an hour. “After about 45 minutes, this pitch ended and I said, ‘I am your Chicken Man,'” Dwayne recalled. The father of three underwent an incredible transformation in The Smashing Machine to play Mark Kerr, an MMA legend who struggled with substance abuse throughout his life. He bulked up even more for the role and wore extensive prosthetics that took hours to apply each day.
“This transformation was something I was really hungry to do,” Dwayne said at the Venice Film Festival. “I had been very fortunate to have the career that I’ve had over the years and to make the films that I’ve made, but there was just a voice inside of me, a little voice that said, ‘Well, what if I could do more – I want to do more, and what does that look like?'”
“A lot of times it’s harder for us – or at least for me, sometimes – to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeon-holed…And sometimes it takes people who you love and you respect…to say you can,” he explained. Dwayne is known for his action blockbusters, like the Fast and Furious films, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, as well as family-friendly flicks like Disney’s Moana and Jungle Cruise.
© Karen NealSpeaking about his recent career shift at a press conference in September, he opened up about making the decision to step away from those kinds of films and focus on more serious subject matters, like in The Smashing Machine. “I looked around a few years ago and I started to think…am I living my dream, or am I living other people’s dreams?” he said.
© Alamy Stock Photo/BFAThe 53-year-old added that he told himself, “You could either fall in line and, well, it’s status quo. Things are good. I don’t want to rock the boat or go, you know what? I want to live my dreams now and do what I want and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into.” While there is no news of Lizard Music‘s release date, The Smashing Machine will drop in theatres on October 3.
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