Dwayne Johnson was barely recognizable on the Brooklyn set of Benny Safdie’s upcoming movie Lizard Music on Tuesday.
The 54-year-old Moana star underwent a dramatic makeover to portray an elderly man, appearing in striking behind-the-scenes images with his back bent as he walked.
The former WWE star, famously known as The Rock, looked a world away from his signature muscular image after shedding weight for the part.
Johnson completed the elderly character’s look with grey hair visible beneath a beige bucket hat. He wore a tan trench coat, blue shirt and tie while filming outdoor scenes alongside young actor Theo Clark Leber.
The pair were photographed carrying oversized slices of pizza, while Leber also had a charming plush lizard in hand.
Scheduled for release next year, Lizard Music centers on a young boy who forms a friendship with a “peculiar man with an elderly chicken,” according to the film’s synopsis.
Dwayne Johnson appeared dramatically transformed while filming Benny Safdie’s Lizard Music in New York City on Tuesday
The Moana star portrayed an elderly man, complete with a stooped walk, in striking images from the set
After slimming down for the role, the WWE legend looked markedly different from his famously sculpted physique
“Their quest for answers reveals hidden worlds and an unlikely but magical friendship,” the synopsis continues.
The ensemble cast also includes Rachel McAdams, Alicia Silverstone, Colman Domingo, Tim Heidecker, Regina Hall and Jeff Goldblum.
The film is adapted from Daniel Pinkwater’s novel of the same title, first published in 1976.
During a break from filming, Johnson was seen speaking with Safdie, who recently portrayed Agamemnon in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
This is not Johnson’s first major physical transformation for a movie.
Last year, he added more than 30 pounds of muscle to play MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, a biographical drama.
“For me, the transformation was 22 prosthetics, over 30 pounds that I had to put on, which is a lot of weight,” Johnson said during an appearance on Good Morning America.
He later discussed reversing that process and slimming down to take on the Chicken Man character in Lizard Music.
Grey strands could be seen beneath Johnson’s beige bucket hat
His elderly character wore a tan trench coat over a blue shirt and tie
Johnson filmed outdoor scenes with child actor Theo Clark Leber
They were both seen carrying large slices of pizza, with Leber also holding a cute lizard plushy
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He rocked a gold earring
Johnson was pictured chatting to Safdie, who recently played Agamemnon in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
The project is based on the Daniel Pinkwater novel of the same name, which was originally published in 1976
The film, which is set to be released next year, follows a young boy and his friendship with a ‘peculiar man with an elderly chicken,’ as per the synopsis
‘I still have a long ways to go,’ he told Variety in September. ‘I’m so excited to get a chance to hopefully transform again like I was able to do in Smashing Machine. [It means] eating less chicken,’ he quipped.
Reflecting back on his role as Kerr in the Smashing Machine, he said, ‘This transformation was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. There was a physical transformation, prosthetics, vocal transformation — he has a very specific way of talking.’
He added that it’s ‘not just gaining weight. It’s putting on a quality of muscle that has fast-twitch capacity.’
‘He’s a wrestler. It’s not about bodybuilding. I’ve never done so much trap and neck work in my life. Old-school wrestlers with no necks? That’s what I had to do.’
‘And I held that weight for three and a half months. Then, two weeks later, I had to roll into Moana. So it was Mark Kerr and Maui. Big dudes.’
Johnson – crowned Favorite Male Buttkicker at the 2013 Kids Choice Awards – has recently expressed a desire to ‘be taken seriously’ after being ‘pigeonholed’ with his roles.
He has appeared in hit big budget movies such as Jumanji, Moana and The Fast and the Furious, but is now aiming for something bigger than the box office.
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival last year, he shared: ‘When you’re in Hollywood — as we all know, it can become about box office.’
‘And you chase the box office, and the box office can be very loud and it can become very resounding and it can push you into a category and into a corner.’
He continued: ‘This is your lane and this is what you do and this is what Hollywood wants you to do.’
Last year he packed on more than 30 pounds of muscle to play Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine – a biopic about the MMA fighter; Seen in a still
Dwayne started his showbiz career as wrestler The Rock on WWE (pictured in the ring in 2000)
‘I understood that, and I did those movies, and it was fun. And some of them did really well. It’s not about proving something to Hollywood as much as it is proving something to me.’
‘A few years ago I started to ask myself, am I living my dream or am I living other peoples dreams.’
‘You come to that recognition and I think you can either fall in line – Well, it’s status quo, things are good, I don’t want to rock the boat. Or go, I want to live my dreams now and do what I wanna do and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into and have a place finally to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past that I’ve shied away from.’
He added of his role as Kerr: ‘I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity.’
