The Rock’s reaction to the seeing Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer on IMAX has captured the internet’s attention, and for good reason.
While we may be used to seeing actor Dwayne Johnson on screen in movies, we rarely think of what it’s like to see him as a moviegoer.
But ahead of the release of his new film Red One, the internet got a glimpse into what goes through The Rock’s mind when watching movies as he shared his reaction to watching Oppenheimer on an IMAX screen.
Oppenheimer tells the story of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was appointed during WW2 to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project.
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Oppenheimer and a team of scientists made the atomic bomb, finally finishing on July 16, 1945, and witnessed the world's first-ever nuclear explosion.
This film would have a lot of action in an ordinary cinema screening - but an IMAX screen doubles the drama, making Johnson’s elaborate response to watching it on a 72 foot by 50 foot screen slightly more understandable.
While filming Red One, his new Christmas movie, Johnson had the opportunity to watch the biopic blockbuster on the same IMAX screen where Nolan watches his own films on IMAX.
In a recent video interview with IMAX, The Rock said it inspired him to have Red One show on IMAX too.
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In the interview, he said: “With Red One, our intention was to make a movie that you can enjoy on the biggest screen possible.
“Legitimately the biggest screens possible are IMAX. I was midway through shooting Red One and I had an opportunity to see Oppenheimer. I watched in the IMAX theater where Christopher Nolan watches and screens his movies.
"Him and Emma [Thomas], his wife. I even asked to let me sit where Chris sits. They said, ‘Chris sits here.'"
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Johnson continued: “I watch ‘Oppenheimer.’ It was amazing, but I was thinking: ‘Holy s**t. Red One on this screen and with this technology could be game over.’
"I remember texting [director Jake Kasdan] a picture of my bare chest and a picture of the screen and we realized how cool [IMAX] would be.”
Johnson’s reaction has certainly stuck with fans.
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Reddit users responding said: “This just invites follow-up questions. Did he take his shirt off in the theatre, mid-movie, or was it during the credits?
"When he says a picture of the screen, again, midmovie or just, blank?...was it two independent pictures of chest and screen, or was it a selfie?”
Another typed: “Did it cross his mind that it might have been easier to share one of the billion extant pics of his bare chest, but then he thought no, that would compromise my artistic integrity?”
Red One is now available to watch in cinemas.
Topics: Dwayne Johnson, Film and TV
Maxine Harrison