On October 20, journalists and paparazzi spotted Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a radically new look on a film set in Brooklyn. For his role in director Benny Safdie's upcoming film Lizard Music, the actor appeared as an elderly man featuring grey hair, deep wrinkles, and intricate prosthetic makeup that visually adds several decades to his appearance. In the published photos, Johnson wears a beige bucket hat and coat, holding a piece of pizza in one hand while his young co-star, Theo Clark Leber, walks alongside him carrying a large plush lizard.
Makeup that erases 'The Rock'
Makeup artist Kazu Hiro was responsible for transforming one of Hollywood's most recognisable faces into a 70-year-old character. According to Wave RBC.UA, Hiro previously created the aged oil tycoon look for Tom Cruise in the film Digger. The scale of the work here is comparable: prosthetic cosmetics completely alter facial features, forehead shape, and skin texture, making the actor virtually unrecognisable to those used to seeing him in muscular action roles.
More than makeup: shedding 30 lbs of muscle mass
This physical transformation went beyond cosmetics. For the new film, Johnson reportedly dropped about 30 pounds of muscle mass (approximately 13.6 kg). Such a dedicated approach to roles has become habitual for him: in 2025, working with the same Benny Safdie, he played mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, which also featured Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk. Thus, Lizard Music marks yet another radical transformation project in the actor's collaboration with the director.
What the film is about: musical lizards and a mysterious man
The film is based on the children's book of the same name by American author Daniel Pinkwater. At the centre of the plot is a boy who accidentally discovers strange musical lizards on late-night television. This discovery leads him to meet a mysterious man who keeps an old chicken. Judging by the set photos, this exact character is the one Johnson is portraying in his new elderly persona.
Cast and timeline: premiere in December 2027
Joining Johnson in Lizard Music are Rachel McAdams, Colman Domingo, David Krumholtz, Jeff Goldblum, Alicia Silverstone, and Regina Hall. The picture is produced by Amazon MGM Studios, with a theatrical release scheduled for December 25, 2027. For the actor's fans, this provides yet another reason to expect that "The Rock" will once again be unrecognisable on the big screen — this time in the role of a good-natured yet enigmatic old man from the world of children's fantasy.
