What makes Dwayne Johnson Hollywood’s strangest success story

Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock’s $195 million-budgeted film, has grossed $325.2 million worldwide in the last three weeks since its release, improving substantially upon another recent DC film, The Suicide Squad (2021), which grossed $168 million globally. The improvement may have to do with the fact that the box office has been largely lackluster in the prelude to Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which releases on November 11.

Irrespective of the film’s commercial success, Black Adam is likely to officially establish Johnson as Hollywood’s ultimate action superstar, something he has been playing around with since forever. The film, in which Johnson plays a DC superhero ‘with a stone face,’ is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, written by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani, and produced by Johnson. While it has received mixed reviews, it is likely to be a milestone in the American-Canadian actor’s career.

An eventful life

Johnson, 50, has been named one of the world’s most influential people by TIME magazine, not once but twice. It’s no surprise really — open his Wikipedia page, and you’ll see that his life has been nothing short of a movie, which is an understatement, for someone who has gone from being complicit in petty crimes like theft to being one of the highest-paid actors in the world, with sheer grit, hard work and, well, charm, of course.

Starting from his early life, which found itself to be encircled by conflict and crime, to his football career, after which he ventured into what is known as his ‘claim to fame’ — professional wrestling, therefore also becoming WWF’s first third-generation wrestler, Johnson has led a rather eventful life, that is still in the making.

The roaring success he witnessed in the ring, catapulted him to stardom, but like any man-made for greatness, The Rock wasn’t prepared to be done just yet, because next followed his illustrious movie career that saw one blockbuster after another.

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Black Adam, in which Johnson plays a different kind of superhero — the kind that kills unapologetically — is possibly the biggest movie of his career. It’s apt too, after all, he is The Rock (a fitting aptronym that he’s had from his wrestling days), a Herculean megastar who just won’t stop, until he has the throne all for himself.

A mystifying quality to his appeal

It is this irony that makes one marvel and question the magnanimity of Dwayne Johnson’s success. It isn’t ludicrous to ask how a man with minimal ability and physicality to sell any sentiment, apart from unmitigated rage, has managed to become one of the most loved and adored movie stars. After all, it isn’t every day that a man as big, and brawny as The Rock, with little to no acting chops up his sleeves, becomes a superstar, who does a lot more than just making debris out of giant buildings.

Johnson, of course, is no example of undeserved stardom, in fact, quite the opposite. It is only that there is a puzzling and mystifying quality to his appeal. So then, what is it that makes Dwayne Johnson one of the brightest stars of Hollywood?

For starters, I think it is that million-dollar smile of his that juxtaposes his shredded build with heartening tenderness — it’s an irony, living its best life. Of course, he has his superhuman physique going for him, but while it remains his biggest asset, many a time, it also limits his ability to believably depict any normal person.

That said, the epithet ‘man of steel, with a heart of gold mine’ does work for him, so much so that even in his most robust roles, you’re left with moments that make your heart turn a shade of pink. While the bulky body is a godsend for action flicks, it is the gentle and kind heart that shines through his social media and public interactions, therefore balancing out the intimidating stature, which could have easily caused him to be typecast as just another action star (like Jason Statham maybe?), rather than becoming a bona fide movie star, who commands unrivaled star power, as well as bankability.

His ability to laugh at himself

It also helps that he has a formidable habit of being able to laugh at himself. It is a habit that reflects not only in his off-screen persona but also in his film choices. Even if most of his films fall in the realm of action or crime, he does grab opportunities in between, to break away from that quintessential tough guy role, to embrace a funnier, or slice-of-life genre. Through films like Central Intelligence, Moana (voice role), Baywatch, and Tooth Fairy, Johnson not only cultivated an audience outside his action-loving fanbase, but also cemented his place as a box-office draw, irrespective of genre, and critical acclaim.

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Moreover, this ability to self-parodise made it possible for people to see him as an accessible icon. His Red Notice co-star, Ryan Renyolds, even went on to say in an interview with Vanity Fair, that, “he has an innate ability to always laugh at himself, and that, in and of itself, is a superpower, you know? That’s always been the thing that I think really allows people in.” That self-deprecating humour, along with an intangible likeability that Johnson carries, makes him one of the warmest people to witness even on screen.

A complete deal

A recent fan interaction during the red carpet of Black Adam is only a prime and recent example of the same. During the red carpet event, a father was seen giving his baby to Johnson, who carried the baby girl in his massive arms fondly, making the internet melt into a puddle of mushiness. Now, who doesn’t love a giant superstar, coddling a tiny little baby in his arms? It’s things like these, outside the realm of films, that makes Johnson who he is today — a star made, loved, and revered by the masses. It’s this very warmth and candour that separates him from those run-of-the-mill action heroes who are worshipped by young boys and broody men. If the smackdowns draw in the men, and the charisma the women, then it is the simple affability that makes him the complete deal, families and kids included.

Dwayne Johnson may not be a fine actor, and a critics’ favourite, but he has over the years nurtured a reputation of being diligent and disciplined, something in direct contrast to Tinsel Town’s bolshie way of living. Of course, the reputation is no myth — you can see the evidence in his perfectly chiselled body, which rarely goes out of shape.

‘The Rock’ is Hollywood’s strangest success story as an article in The Independent, claimed, but what he is, even more, is a beautiful enigma, the kind you don’t want to understand, the kind you can’t understand, because some things are best left a mystery, and Johnson is one of those things. For now, one can only look at Black Adam and vouch that even some of the messiest of scripts can be salvaged if you have ‘The Rock’ lifting the weight off it.

Takshi Mehta is an independent journalist who writes on culture