Dwayne Johnson is currently the biggest action star in Hollywood. He is the inspiration for many young men and actors. Thousands try to get his bulked-up body by following his workouts. But who is Johnson’s inspiration? Turns out, unsurprisingly, that it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, the Black Adam star isn’t all that respectful of his idol and in fact, was planning on one-upping him in his own home ground.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Dwayne Johnson’s Inspiration
Dwayne Johnson wasn’t always the muscle-bound and rich superstar he is today. Once upon a time, the celeb had hit rock bottom and only had $7 in his pocket after CFL. However, Johnson stayed positive and developed a workout routine that would make him physically huge and successful like Schwarzenegger. After all, in his eyes, the men who made it in Hollywood were the action stars. In a throwback interview with Muscle And Fitness, the star said:
“I’ll never forget my mom crying and I’ll never forget the thought I had: ‘Well the only thing I can do is just go build my body,’ because the men who were successful that I knew of—Stallone, Arnold, Bruce Willis—they were men of action.”
Johnson further explained that once he was on the verge of getting evicted and was dealing with depression. But instead of taking medication, he sweated it out at the gym. As per the actor:
“There was never any medication. It was getting off my ass and being active and getting out and training. Releasing a lot of blood, sweat, and respect—that was my medication. I’m a long way from being evicted, but I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget the feeling.”
However, the star wasn’t interested in bowing down to Schwarzenegger just because he was the inspiration for Johnson once upon a time.
Dwayne Johnson Wanted To Surpass Arnold Schwarzenegger
In the same interview, the star talked about the brutal physical transformation he had to undergo for the Hercules film. He said that he wanted to portray a version of the mythological hero that would differentiate him from Schwarzenegger’s one. As per Johnson:
“In getting the role of Hercules, the idea, the strategy was I wanted to hopefully create a look that had never been seen before on-screen by any actor.”
However, the Red Notice actor was respectful of the work done by the actors who came before him from the same bodybuilding background. The celeb said:
“I mean that with all due respect by the way. When you look at some of the guys in the past, especially the guys who come from bodybuilding backgrounds, athletic backgrounds—like Arnold, like Steve Reeves, like Reg Park, and certainly like Stallone—men who had a bodybuilding history or incorporated bodybuilding workouts, they looked incredible. So I mean that with all due respect to those guys, because a lot of those guys are my friends, like Arnold and Stallone for example.”
It can’t be denied that somewhere around the 2010s, Arnold Schwarzenegger passed on the torch to The Rock and now the latter is the face of most hardcore action films. However, the cycle will keep continuing and one day someone else will say that Johnson is his inspiration.
Source: Muscle and Fitness
