Dwayne Johnson to play elderly man role
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The gist
Dwayne Johnson was photographed filming "Lizard Music" in Brooklyn as a gray-haired, mustachioed 70-year-old man.
The Benny Safdie film is set for a Christmas Day 2027 release.
Background
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a Hollywood star and former WWE legend. In "Lizard Music," directed by Benny Safdie, he plays the Chicken Man, a 70-year-old character, in an adaptation of Daniel Pinkwater's children's book about a boy who finds strange lizard musicians on late-night TV and befriends a peculiar man with an elderly chicken. Johnson previously worked with Safdie on 2025's "The Smashing Machine," playing former MMA fighter Mark Kerr, and the new role continues a run of heavy prosthetic transformations.
How it unfolded
- 2025Johnson said at a career retrospective talk at the Toronto Film Festival that it took "about 45 minutes" of convincing from Safdie to sign on for "Lizard Music."
- Oct 20, 2026Johnson was spotted filming in New York (Brooklyn) dressed as an elderly eccentric, with thinning gray hair, a thick mustache and a soft hat, in a beige coat, bright tie and wide-legged trousers.
- Oct 20, 2026He was photographed walking alongside young co-star Theo Clark Leber, who carried an oversized green lizard plush; the actors ate pizza between takes.
Who’s saying what
- Actor
- Johnson said it was an easy yes, citing the chance to "hopefully transform again" as he did in "The Smashing Machine," and joked the role means "eating less chicken."
Still unverified
Social media posts describe the Chicken Man as a 70-year-old man whose companion is a 111-year-old chicken named Claudia; this detail is not confirmed in the official logline.