Peeing in bottles, arriving late to the shoot

Dwayne Johnson admitted in a new GQ magazine cover story that he is sometimes late to set and has peed in water bottles to save time during filming, two claims that were at the center of a viral report from The packaging earlier this year. The story claimed that Johnson’s behavior, particularly his tardiness on set, drove the budget for his new Christmas movie “Red One” to a staggering $250 million. Insiders told The Wrap that Johnson could be as much as eight hours late to set some days.

“Yeah, it happens,” Johnson admitted to GQ. “But not that amount, by the way. It was a lot of bananas. It’s crazy. Ridiculous.”

The Wrap also reported that Johnson had made it a habit on his films to urinate in water bottles when he was not near his trailer so as not to waste time going to the public restroom. Johnson also admitted to GQ: “Yeah. It happens…I’ve said a thousand times, ‘Hey, I’m here. Come ask me. And I’ll tell you the truth.’

But while he is sometimes late to sit down and pee on bottles, Johnson said the overall controversy the report caused was “bullshit.” His “Red One” director Jake Kasdan and co-star Chris Evans seem to agree and defended the actor.

“(Dwayne) never missed a day of work ever,” Kasdan told GQ. “He’s got a lot going on. He can be late sometimes, but that’s Hollywood — that’s everybody. Honestly, I’ve done three big movies with him. I’ve never seen him be anything but amazing for each single person on set.”

Evans echoed the sentiment, saying, “In terms of the guy I saw, compared to some of the stuff I’ve seen on other movies with other actors who are not only not aware of other people’s time and effort, but they’re unpredictable ?I found Dwayne to be — we all know exactly what he’s going to do when he’s going to do it.”

Johnson often worked out in the morning before he got on stage, Evans explained, adding, “But this is something that the producers, the director and all of his team, so they all know. So it’s all basic. It’s not like he’s unexpectedly late and I don’t even want to call it late. He’s a little late some mornings. It’s worked into the schedules and everyone knows when he shows up he must appear up.”

Evans minimized the controversy involving Johnson’s on-set behavior by highlighting how large said behavior could sometimes be, including one day on set when Johnson gave a combined $100,000 to various crew members.

“The (giveaway) pot was up to four or five thousand or something, and before they pulled the name, Dwayne said, ‘What’s the pot right now?'” Evans recalled. “And somebody said, ‘I don’t know, four thousand.’ And he said, ‘Let’s call it 20.’ Everyone goes crazy. And then he says, ‘You know what? How about one more?’ And it was 50. I think one Friday Dwayne gave something like close to a hundred thousand dollars away.”

“Red One” opens in US theaters on November 15 from Amazon MGM Studios. Head over to GQ’s website to read Johnson’s cover story in its entirety.