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This is an archive article published on May 1, 2024

Dwayne Johnson’s habitual tardiness, unprofessionalism led to heated confrontation with Ryan Reynolds: ‘He arrives 7-8 hours late every day’

While Dwayne Johnson's highly anticipated action-adventure comedy film Red One is in production, a new report suggests that his tardiness has caused costs to balloon astronomically.

While Dwayne Johnson's highly anticipated action-adventure comedy film Red One is in production, a new report has surfaced blaming him for a year-long delay in the film's release.As per a new report, Dwayne Johnson shows up as much as eight hours late to set on the movie. (Image: Dwayne Johnson/Facebook)

One of the highest paid movie stars in the world, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been accused of habitual tardiness and unprofessionalism by several people associated with his upcoming movie Red One. Co-starring Chris Evans, the film’s budget has reportedly increased by $50 million because Johnson would regularly show up seven to eight hours late to set. The Wrap reported that Amazon has delayed the film by a year because of on-set troubles.

Red One, directed by Jumanji: The Next Level helmer Jake Kasdan, is produced by Amazon MGM Studios in association with Seven Bucks Productions, The Detective Agency and Chris Morgan Productions. Contrary to rumours of labor strikes causing the delay from a 2023 Christmas release to November 2024, The Wrap’s report points to production challenges. These include Johnson’s habitual tardiness and unprofessionalism on set, along with the inexperience of producers, contributing to the budget rising to a staggering $250 million.

The publication, quoting many unnamed insiders directly involved in the project, reported that Johnson shows up as much as eight hours late to set on the movie. The troubles with him don’t end there. “On set, away from his trailer, if he needs to pee, he doesn’t go to the public bathroom. He pees in a Voss water bottle and his team or a PA has to dispose of it,” an insider said. “The only thing Dwayne was consistent at was being chronically late,” another source mentioned. Johnson was late an average of seven to eight hours per day and missed several entire days of production, ballooning costs by at least $50 million according to three insiders. “It was a f–king disaster,” one insider said, “Dwayne truly doesn’t give a f–k,” another one noted.

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According to the report, this isn’t a new issue and persisted even during the filming of the TV series Ballers in which he played the lead role. “He was regularly three to four hours late to set. Keeping 100+ crew members waiting for no reason,” a producer who visited its set said. On the set of Rampage, Johnson was late an average of four to five hours daily, with one costar keeping records of his tardiness, according to two insiders. The reasons behind Johnson’s perpetual lateness seem to stem from his refusal to work a full shooting day, despite factoring in his three-hour daily workout routine.

Johnson’s behaviour has led to confrontations with co-stars, most famously Vin Diesel. “Vin has been having problems with The Rock because The Rock keeps showing up late for production,” an insider told People. “Sometimes he doesn’t show up at all, and he’s delaying the production.” A ‘huge fight’ broke out between him and his Red Notice co-star Ryan Reynolds, and they reportedly didn’t speak for years until recently patching things up.

Reportedly, his tardiness goes beyond the realm of cinema, and he was three hours late arriving ahead of his main event match at WrestleMania 40, a professional annual wrestling event organised by WWE.

Furthermore, the report also claimed that the relative inexperience of the film’s lead producer, Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions, and Amazon MGM feature and production executives, Julie Rapaport and Glenn Gainor, has worsened the situation.

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However, in a statement to The Wrap, a spokesperson for Amazon MGM denied there were any on-set issues with Red One or delays caused by Johnson’s lateness or Seven Bucks’ inexperience, which caused the film budget to balloon. “Dwayne Johnson and Seven Bucks have been incredible partners on Red One — a film that audiences of all ages are going to love this holiday season. Any reporting that implies that we got to this point with him showing up seven-eight hours late to set is both ridiculous and false.” Separate denials were also issued by Netflix and persons close to Red One and Red Notice.

Click for more updates and latest Hollywood News along with Bollywood and Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the World at The Indian Express.

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ED arrests Biswal Tradelink's MD in fake bank guarantee case, to confront him with Anil Ambani
ED arrests Biswal Tradelink’s MD in fake bank guarantee case, to confront him with Anil Ambani
59 min ago

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Partha Sarathi Biswal, managing director of Biswal Tradelink Private Limited (BTPL), in connection with an alleged fake bank guarantee case. “A probe has revealed that BTPL fraudulently arranged and submitted fake bank guarantees of Rs 68.2 crore along with forged State Bank of India (SBI) endorsements and fabricated confirmations for a Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) tender. For providing this bank guarantee, BTPL received Rs 5.40 crore from Reliance Power Limited,” an official said. Seven days after searching multiple locations in Mumbai linked to Anil Ambani, the ED has summoned the industrialist on August 5 to join the investigation into a money laundering case linked to a multi-crore bank loan fraud involving companies of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The ED has also issued a lookout circular (LOC) to prevent him from travelling abroad. BTPL was one of the companies where the ED recently conducted searches. Biswal's arrest was made on August 1 and he was produced before a Delhi Court, which sent him to their custody till August 6. "We are planning to confront him with Anil Ambani during questioning and will try to verify some facts," an official said. The ED has initiated its investigation against BTPL based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Delhi Police, against the firm, its directors and others, for allegedly providing a fake bank guarantee which was submitted to SECI. “During the investigation, the ED has collected several pieces of evidence and they confirmed the use of fake documents in the name of certain banks and fake email IDs in the name of SBI. Probe has also revealed that BTPL, a small company incorporated in 2019, maintained multiple undisclosed bank accounts and carried out transactions disproportionate to its declared turnover. Many violations of the Companies Act are found, and no statutory records are found at registered addresses, such as books of accounts, shareholders’ registers, etc,” the official said. The probe also revealed that dummy directors were used solely to sign documents, and found at least seven undisclosed bank accounts of the company. “Proceeds of crime, of crores of rupees, have been traced to these accounts,” the official added. A spokesperson for Reliance Power said the ED case related to a bank guarantee. “The company and its subsidiaries acted bona fide and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and a conspiracy. The company has made due disclosure on this to the stock exchanges on November 7, 2024. A criminal complaint in this regard has already been lodged with the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police against the third party on October 16, 2024. The due process of law will follow," said the spokesperson.

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