Based entirely on their undeniable chemistry on both the press tour and the subsequent Academy Awards, you’ve got to wonder how on earth Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt failed to generate so much as a single spark onscreen in Jungle Cruise.
The pair’s off-camera banter is endearingly wholesome, rip-roaringly funny, and packed with a nonstop barrage of insults lobbed in the other’s direction, only for their on-camera efforts to be about as beige as The Rock’s filmography over the last decade, with the duo’s collaboration even ending up as one of the biggest box office bombs of all-time after losing an estimated $150 million.
Rather bizarrely, then, Blunt was adamant that the actor and producer is going to end up with a statue of his own one day, after revealing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast she told Johnson he was destined to win an Oscar.
“I told him, I said ‘you’re going to win an Oscar one day.’ I know it. You wait. You wait.”
Blunt’s hypothesis was based on Johnson’s willingness to listen, learn, and always ensure that he goes the extra mile to better himself, his craft, and the production he’s working on. However, in order to become the recipient of the most prestigious prize in all of Hollywood, he may have to do some actual acting for a change.
While repeating his typical shtick has worked well enough so far, it’s been a long time since the Seven Bucks head honcho has even come close to stretching himself with a meaty or dramatic part, and it would be fair to assume the Academy isn’t going to be handing out Best Actor gongs for a string of mediocre action blockbusters.