Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson revealed that he achieved his significantly slimmed-down new physique for an upcoming movie and still plans to lose more weight.
"We're gonna make a film called Lizard Music, which is based off of a novel written by Daniel Pinkwater," Johnson said of his upcoming project with director Benny Safdie, who directed his A24 film, The Smashing Machine, while speaking to TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey.
Johnson described the Lizard Music role as "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 added.
The WWE superstar turned actor was reported to have lost around 60 pounds, going from 300 pounds to around 240 pounds, for his role as UFC pioneer Mark Kerr in the biopic The Smashing Machine, according to the Independent. Johnson followed a similar path to fellow wrestler turned actor Dave Bautista, who looked unrecognizable after losing a drastic amount of weight for his role in The Killer's Game last year.
“This is me slimmed down,” Johnson told Bailey during the TIFF interview. “I still have a long ways to go.”
The Smashing Machine received rave reviews following its premier at the Venice Film Festival, leading to potential Oscar buzz for Johnson. The biopic chronicles the life of Kerr, a former wrestler who competed in mixed martial arts between 1997 to 2009, having won the UFC Heavyweight Tournament twice during the early years of the now global promotion, as well as being a World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner and a Pride FC competitor.