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The Rock looks unrecognizable on the set of 'Lizard Music'
Production on The Rock’s new movie Lizard Music began in New York City, and the former WWE star looks unrecognizable as a 70-year-old man in the film. Lizard Music reunites The Rock with The Smashing Machine director Benny Safdie.
Lizard Music is a live-action and CGI adaptation of Daniel Pinkwater’s 1976 children’s novel, which follows a boy who discovers a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing music and then meets Chicken Man (The Rock) and his 111-year-old chicken, Claudia, as they explore a hidden society.
Dwayne Johnson was photographed in Brooklyn heavily made up as a 70-year-old man for Benny Safdie’s Lizard Music
According to Johnson, the transformation into Chicken Man takes “five hours of make-up every day” and that he lost 30 pounds of muscle for the part.
In addition to The Rock and young newcomer Theo Clark Leber, Lizard Music is also set to star Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Regina Hall and Andrew Dice Clay, with Colman Domingo, Jeff Goldblum, Rachel McAdams and David Krumholtz reportedly joining in voice roles.
Prior to 2025’s The Smashing Machine, Benny Safdie co-wrote and directed the films Heaven Knows What (2014), Good Time (2017), and Uncut Gems (2019) alongside his older brother Josh (who recently helmed Marty Supreme).
Safdie has also branched out into acting, with recent roles in projects such as Licorice Pizza, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, The Curse, Oppenheimer, Happy Gilmore 2, The Odyssey, and voicing Bowser Jr. in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.