VENICE, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 01: Dwayne Johnson attends “The Smashing Machine” red carpet during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 01, 2025 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
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Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, the professional wrestler best known for playing large, muscled strongmen in countless action movies over the years, has lost a lot of weight. Unlike your average American, the weight loss in question isn’t fat. One of Hollywood’s strongest leading men is shedding muscle.
Photos of the actor have raised eyebrows in recent weeks. Some speculated that it had to do with stopping steroids. Whatever the reason, it was a clear and pretty stark difference.
This was even more surprising given The Rock’s new A24 film, The Smashing Machine from director Benny Safdie. The only thing different about Johnson’s appearance in that film was the rather shocking full head of hair:
The Smashing Machine
Credit: A24
I honestly might not have recognized him if I didn’t know better. The Smashing Machine is getting solid reviews on Rotten Tomatoes after debuting at the Venice Film Festival. The film represents a major shift for Johnson. It’s the story of MMA fighter Mark Kerr as he deals with fame, fortune, drug addiction and other personal struggles. The film wowed audiences in Venice, earning a fifteen-minute standing ovation that brought the actor to tears. Safdie embraced Johnson and his co-star Emily Blunt during the ovation, weeping alongside him. The real-life Kerr joined in the waterworks.
Variety called the scene “the most emotional premiere on the Lido since Brendan Fraser collapsed into tears four years ago, launching his Oscar campaign for The Whale.”
Which brings us back to the subject of Johnson’s mysterious weight loss. It turns out, the actor now has a taste for movies outside his usual oeuvre. The shedding of muscle weight (he gained 30 lbs of muscle to his already sizable physique for The Smashing Machine) is for another role in another Safdie film called Lizard Music.
In the film, the 53-year-old actor will play a 70-something-year-old man who befriends a 70-year-old chicken. He’s called the Chicken Man. Which means two things:
First, this is a movie about a chicken and a man called the Chicken Man called Lizard Music. That’s pretty weird and quite obviously way outside The Rock’s wheelhouse. We’ve come a long ways from Black Adam, clearly.
Second, “[It means] eating less chicken,” The Rock said in an interview about the upcoming film. One would hope the Chicken Man, friend of ancient chickens, would eat less chicken, after all. Of course, it’s mostly about the protein. Losing muscle (an act few of us mere mortals would ever dream of, we have enough of a hard time putting it on) requires less protein in your diet.
The film is an adaption of the 1976 Daniel Pinkwater novel of the same name. While The Rock is playing Chicken Man, the book – which I haven’t read yet – sounds like a wild ride. The Goodreads summary reads: “When left to take care of himself, a young boy becomes involved with a community of intelligent lizards who tell him of a little-known invasion from outer space.”
The weight loss isn’t permanent, though obviously it gets harder and harder to put on muscle as we get older. “The films that I made in the past, I love them,” Johnson said. “I’ll go back to making them again.” Speaking of which, The Rock returns to the set of Jumanji 3 in November.