Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his role in The Smashing Machine, but he admits his Hollywood journey might never have happened without Brendan Fraser.
During Variety’s Actors on Actors, Johnson thanked Fraser for welcoming him into The Mummy Returns, the film that launched his acting career.
“I wanna say thank you, man. And thank you for, in a way, in a big way, really changing my life. ’Cause the trajectory that you allowed to happen led me to be here,” Johnson told Fraser.
Fraser reciprocated the respect, revealing that he told producers Johnson was “perfect” for the role of The Scorpion King despite having no acting experience.
Johnson also shared the story of how he found out about his nomination. He woke up to a single text from director Ryan Coogler.
“I opened up that text and he said ‘Congratulations, brother.’ Then come to find out that the one buzz I got wound up being just the indicator that I had about 250 texts,” Johnson said.