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Dwayne Johnson aged decades — thanks to movie magic — to play a senior citizen for his upcoming film, “Lizard Music.”
The “Moana” actor, 54, was photographed on the Coney Island, Brooklyn, set of the forthcoming project Tuesday wearing a tan trench coat, matching floppy hat and sneakers with a blue shirt and tie while filming outdoor scenes opposite child actor Theo Clark Leber.
Both carried a slice of cheese pizza, with Leber also toting a large green lizard plushy.
Rocking gray facial and what appeared to be facial prosthetics, the WWE alum was a shadow of his usual self, with only his square jawline and tall stature hinting at his identity.
The movie — which is set for release next year — centers around a young boy’s friendship with a “peculiar man with an elderly chicken,” an official synopsis states. “Their quest for answers reveals hidden worlds and an unlikely but magical friendship.”
The film also stars Rachel McAdams, Colman Domingo, Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Regina Hall and Jeff Goldblum, among others. Benny Safdie directs.
Johnson is no stranger to a physical transformation — though this may be the first time he’s been seen as an elderly man.
For last year’s “The Smashing Machine,” Johnson bulked up to play Mark Kerr in a biopic about the MMA fighter, putting on more than 30 pounds and donned a wig for the role.
“For me, the transformation was 22 prosthetics, over 30 pounds that I had to put on, which is a lot of weight,” he said during an interview on “Good Morning America” last October.
He also told Variety at the time that the transformation was “the hardest thing [he’d] ever done.”
“There was a physical transformation, prosthetics, vocal transformation — he has a very specific way of talking,” he told the outlet.
He also recalled Safdie, who also directed “The Smashing Machine,” saying to him, “DJ, I don’t know if anyone’s told you this… but you need to gain weight.”
Johnson said he told the director, “Give me 24 hours,” adding, “I came back, and we looked at Mark again — and realized, his body is a unicorn,” Johnson said of Kerr.
“Benny said he wanted me to look a bit puffy and I agreed,” Johnson said, noting that it took 30 pounds to achieve the effect.
Johnson clarified that it’s not “just gaining weight” that’s necessary for such a transformation.
“It’s putting on a quality of muscle that has fast-twitch capacity,” the actor explained.
“He’s a wrestler. It’s not about bodybuilding,” he said. “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.”
Two weeks later, Johnson noted he “had to roll into” the live-action version of “Moana,” in which he played demigod Maui — whom he also voiced in the 2016 animated film and its 2024 sequel.