![\"Dwayne](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dwayne-Johnson-Actor-Wrestler-The-Rock-2024-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Far Out \/ Warner Bros<\/p>\n
Wed 29 July 2026 3:30, UK <\/p>\n
Charisma can only get you so far in Hollywood, something it\u2019s beginning to look an awful lot like Dwayne Johnson<\/a> is finding out the hard way, with the wrestler-turned-actor currently in a make-or-break moment.<\/p>\n For a while, he more than lived up to his self-appointed tag of \u2018Franchise Viagra\u2019, which he earned by dragging several established franchises back from the doldrums, and he grew accustomed to everything he touched turning into box office gold, which is why he was the highest-paid star in the business.<\/p>\n However, \u2018The Rock\u2019 is in serious danger of running aground<\/a>. He hasn\u2019t starred in an unqualified hit since 2019\u2019s Jumanji: The Next Level, with audiences clearly growing tired of his schtick, which almost always involves him headlining a big-budget action comedy with bountiful amounts of CGI.<\/p>\n Yes, he showcased his dramatic chops in Benny Safdie\u2019s The Smashing Machine, blew Christopher Nolan away<\/a>, and earned a Golden Globe nomination for \u2018Best Actor \u2013 Drama\u2019, but that doesn\u2019t mean the sports biopic didn\u2019t bomb, because it did. It\u2019s crunch time, but comedy definitely isn\u2019t the way to go.<\/p>\n Whenever Johnson has starred in an out-and-out comedy, the results have been dire. The Tooth Fairy was a pile of shite, Baywatch was also a pile of shite, with the star\u2019s approach to the art form apparently mugging as hard as he can. Maybe he just needs a good script, something neither of those films had, but as far as comedy actors go, Johnson only has one name at the top of the greatness pile.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t mean this in a weird way, but I was so enamoured with Gene Wilder,\u201d he responded when asked about his first cinematic crush. \u201cGrowing up, I loved Richard Pryor, I loved Elvis, but I think Willy Wonka was the thing that really grabbed me about Gene Wilder.\u201d Weird? Not really, because he was great.<\/p>\n Maybe not crush-worthy in the conventional sense, but you can\u2019t talk about the industry\u2019s all-time comedic greats<\/a> without mentioning the eccentric, idiosyncratic, and neurotic star of Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Stir Crazy, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and, of course, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.<\/p>\n Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/strong><\/p>\n An Academy Award nominee for The Producers, the first of his seminal collaborations with Mel Brooks, Wilder had the innate ability to both swing for the fences and pitch his performances to the cheap seats, while also being able to wring pathos out of characters who seemed irredeemable at first glance.<\/p>\n In another world, Johnson could have emulated his comedy idol, with Tim Burton considering him for the Wonka role in his Johnny Depp-starring remake. It would have been something to see; not necessarily good<\/a>, but definitely something, and it would have brought his Wilder fandom full circle in the most bizarre circumstances imaginable.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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