Tsunkatse?
Big UPN money!
Was he already THAT big back then? I don't follow wresting, so that's a serious question.
I don't think he was a big star back then, he was just one Wrestler.
*sarcasm-sign-gif*
Yeah, that was in the early days of his acting career. I think the only other big thing he had done was The Mummy Returns.
Edit: Correction, he hadn't even done that yet! He was just a wrestler when he did Voyager.
Edit: Correction, he hadn't even done that yet! He was just a wrestler when he did Voyager.
Last edited:
I looked it up online and he looks pretty big to me.
It's pushing 30 years ago.
The Rock gained extra notoreity after his SCORPION KING phase. VOYAGER certainly predates that. His finest performance is ironically in one of his reekiest movies. That would be BE COOL.
The Rock has the nickname "franchise viagra" but I don't know if that's a good thing. It's a good thing for his wallet, but Moana 2 is the only sequel where he was also part of the original. He has no signature movies, roles or performances.
He was once compared to Schwarzenegger early in his career, but imagine if Schwarzenegger never made The Terminator or Predator or Commando or True Lies, and instead his biggest hits were Road House 2, Red Dawn 2, Harry and the Hendersons 2, Blue Thunder 2, Blue Thunder 3, Beverly Hills Cop III, Beverly Hills Cop IV, Beverly Hills Cop V, Beverly Hills Cop VI.
He was once compared to Schwarzenegger early in his career, but imagine if Schwarzenegger never made The Terminator or Predator or Commando or True Lies, and instead his biggest hits were Road House 2, Red Dawn 2, Harry and the Hendersons 2, Blue Thunder 2, Blue Thunder 3, Beverly Hills Cop III, Beverly Hills Cop IV, Beverly Hills Cop V, Beverly Hills Cop VI.
I didn't really follow wrestling, but I did know who The Rock was when he appeared on Voyager.
He was already starting to gain a reputation as a 'Heal' at the time.
I also remember when Big Show made an appearance on Enterprise as an Orion.
He was already starting to gain a reputation as a 'Heal' at the time.
I also remember when Big Show made an appearance on Enterprise as an Orion.
Johnson is one of the actors who have repositioned the superhuman action lead in American movies - an archetype that really became dominant in the 1980s with Schwarzenegger and Stallone as the two most visible examples.
These were guys who, unlike John Wayne or Sean Connery or other action-adventure leads of previous eras, were just short of capable of tearing a Buick in half. They routinely performed impossible physical feats. Could endure inhuman punishment - falls, beatings, shootings, electrocution - that even the writers of the James Bond movies would not have thought plausible. And they did it routinely.
It became a bit of a drudge, over time, not least because the images of fantasy masculinity that Hollywood is comfortable offering have changed.
So here's Johnson, whose outstanding gift among the musclemen is to play funny. And vulnerable. And goofy. I don't know that he's the first successful example of that, but he's probably the biggest and most enduring now.
Chris Hemsworth is another.
Ryan Reynolds isn't a huge guy physically, but he's a movie comic - again, playing hapless and goofy and mocking macho stereotypes - and the greatest part of his success has been in action films.
These were guys who, unlike John Wayne or Sean Connery or other action-adventure leads of previous eras, were just short of capable of tearing a Buick in half. They routinely performed impossible physical feats. Could endure inhuman punishment - falls, beatings, shootings, electrocution - that even the writers of the James Bond movies would not have thought plausible. And they did it routinely.
It became a bit of a drudge, over time, not least because the images of fantasy masculinity that Hollywood is comfortable offering have changed.
So here's Johnson, whose outstanding gift among the musclemen is to play funny. And vulnerable. And goofy. I don't know that he's the first successful example of that, but he's probably the biggest and most enduring now.
Chris Hemsworth is another.
Ryan Reynolds isn't a huge guy physically, but he's a movie comic - again, playing hapless and goofy and mocking macho stereotypes - and the greatest part of his success has been in action films.
Last edited:
I don't know if it's even all that believable. Seems like the only hit movies he has are franchise ensemble films. If his star power was actually that significant, why does it never seem to work so well when he's the singular main star? And how does anyone know those franchise hits would've ever been worse off without him?
IMO, I think Dave Bautista and John Cena have shown far better acting chops than The Rock.
Bautista especially. He really has stepped up his performances since GOTG.
Bautista especially. He really has stepped up his performances since GOTG.
lol lol if you watched pro wrestling during the wwe aka wwf attitude era and seen dwyane johnsons pro wrestling gimmick was like then you would know what i am talking about
I should have thought of Cena; he exemplifies the trend for sure. Bautista as well.
So, you're saying that Dwayne Johnson was a professional athlete before he became an actor?
I did not know that.
Similar threads
