Dwayne Johnson Is Unemployed for the First Time in a Long Time

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson graces movie screens across the world on a continuous basis, but even one of the biggest movie stars in the world needs a break every once in awhile. For the first time in a long time, it seems that Johnson is going for a long stretch without taking on another movie role – and he is loving it. The Wall Street Journal did a profile on Dwayne Johnson earlier this fall, at a time when the actor was, at a rare time, genuinely without a job. Don’t expect it to last too long though – The Rock will be plenty busy, come 2020.

“I’m unemployed, man!” Johnson told WSJ reporter Josh Eells, when hey met in Hotel Bel-Air on L.A. At the time, Johnson had just finished filming Disney’s Jungle Cruise, but before he would jump into production on Netflix’s Red Notice or DC’s Black Adam, both high-profile films that will be on Johnson’s slate in the next year. As Johnson told Eells, he loves getting this downtime and is spending it the best way: with his family: “It’s honestly been the best,” he says. “It’s so nice to have this downtime with the family, just taking a breather.”

If anyone in Hollywood deserves a breather after 2019, it’s Dwayne Johnson (and maybe Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo Bros). Johnson spent 2019 getting the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw out and up to a $750 million box office, while also doing another season of HBO’s Ballers, starring in another movie called Fighting with My Family, and even popping back into the world of WWE for a few key appearances. And, while he may have been joking about the fact that he was unemployed at the time of the interview, Johnson isn’t taking a full break: he’s spending the 2019 holiday season traveling the globe with his Jumanji co-star Kevin hart, promoting the Jumanji sequel Jumanji: The Next Level. You can check out the trailer, above.

Synopsis: The gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, they discover that nothing is as they expect. The players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world’s most dangerous game.

Jumanji: The Next Level hits theaters on December 13th. DC’s Black Adam his theaters on December 22nd.