Rock Turns (Well, Into A Super Hero)

Back in June of 2020, when Cauliflower Alley Club life member Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson continued to make near-daily news worldwide (I’ve been the club’s board photographer since the late ’80s).

Perhaps because he’s still the biggest movie and TV star in the world for two+ years running, while his Jungle Cruise ride adventure film arrives soon from Disney Films, he’ll be seen next in perhaps his biggest and most expensive blockbuster.

“The hierarchy of Power in the D.C. comic book and the graphic novel universe is about to change. I’ll be joining an epic and first-of-its-kind D.C. Fandom film (set to start filming on 8/22/20). “This one is for the fans,” Rock said.

He had to kayfabe the rest of the details, but he’ll be playing a newly created D.C. character specifically for him as the main heel protagonist (as well as the title role) in Shazam in Black Adam, to be released 12/22/21.

He’ll battle babyface hero Shazam in this sequel, who’s trying to stop him from controlling the galaxy, it’s rumoured.

In a far shorter span of time, Dwayne eclipsed the prior box office champion record-holders, Will Smith and Burt Reynolds, who’d held a headlock on that title for years.

And his directors laud him for his ability to play comedy, action, and serious roles, often in a single extravaganza. Academy Award nominee Emily Blunt just told Entertainment Tonight, “There’s no one else like The Rock as an actor. I can’t wait to work with him again!”

And in Less Time Than Almost Any Other Major Actor, 53 Films To Date! Pat Patterson predicted to me in 1995, during Dwayne’s earliest OVW training days with Jim Cornette and Danny Davis, that he’d one day be not just the top guy in our biz but also in movies and TV.

From both Jumanji sequels to Fast Five, Furious 7, and Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Central Intelligence, The Rundown, The Game Plan, Get Smart, Be Cool, GI Joe, Walking Tall; his career went into hyperspace in 2001 with his critically-acclaimed work in The Mummy Returns the following year.

His work stole the show, so they created his own spinoff vehicle, The Scorpion King, the next year. He’s sung and danced in Disney’s animated Moana, played a tooth fairy in Saved Swimmer in Baywatch, and kept the world in big-time boss office attractions like San Andreas, Rampage, and Skyscraper.

To date, his films have grossed over $3.7 billion in North America and over $11 billion worldwide. Entertainment industry trades cite him as the hardest one doing press whenever his films are released, doing all the daytime and late-night talk shows and much more, besides the global press junkets and red carpets. All with energy, few others can rival.

His first film, the Beyond The Mat documentary, was finally released in 1999. I had pre-production footage shot at Dwayne’s only attended CAC to date at our ancillary reunion in Tampa in 1995. More talking heads footage was shot at our regular Los Angeles CAC the next year. This was a shoot interview with Pat, Ray Stevens, Angelo Mosca, Nick Bockwinkel, Ted DiBiase, Stan Hansen (most of it not used, sadly), and others, filmed by Eddie Murphy’s movie script fix-it doctor, director Barry Blaustien. I was Barry’s still photographer. And I was there for all the Vegas hilariously inane indie shows with Mick and Sabu, Terry Funk, etc. The ECW and APW tapings that made the film’s cut. I wasn’t there at the Jake Roberts show mess.