The movie Dwayne Johnson is embarrassed to admit he’s never seen: “I’m gonna get killed”
In many ways, Dwayne Johnson is an actor out of time. He is a huge throwback to the 1980s, to the days of musclebound action heroes who didn’t know a single line of Shakespeare, but could beat people up and send them on their way with a witty one-liner and a sassy look.
Some people love this return to a simpler time, while others have grown tired of Johnson’s ultra-repetitive schtick. Considering how much money he’s made doing essentially the same thing over and over again, he probably doesn’t give a toss what you think.
Given he feels like he comes from a different age, the man formerly known as ‘The Rock’ unsurprisingly enjoys the classics. He has spoken about his love of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film that first ignited his passion for acting. He even told Turner Classic Movies (TCM) that he wished he’d been able to star in the film when it first came out. He didn’t express which character he wanted to play, but if it’s anyone other than Indiana Jones, I’ll eat my hat.
In that same interview, Johnson was asked a number of other questions about the great movies of yesteryear. He revealed that he watches It’s a Wonderful Life multiple times a year, not just at Christmas, and that the most recent film to make him cry was Braveheart. He was also forced to name the classic movie he was most ashamed to have never seen, which brought on this confession about an Oscar-winning favourite.
“A Streetcar Named Desire,” he admitted with shame in his voice. “I’m going to get killed for this one. I quote it all the time. Every time I talk to my friends about it, they’re like ‘do you remember that scene?’ [and] I’m like ‘that’s one of my favourite scenes, it’s great’… after this, I’m going to have to see it. A Streetcar Named Desire, you have a date with DJ.” Yes, he refers to himself as ‘DJ’. I’m not sure what to do with that information.
Based on Tennessee Williams’ seminal play of the same name, Elia Kazan’s adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire is best known for Marlon Brando’s standout performance as Stanley Kowalski. A brutish man who covets his wife’s sister, Blanche DuBois (Vivian Leigh), Stanley is one of the great literary characters, and Brando’s portrayal of him made him a cinematic standard as well. He ended up hating the character eventually, but that’s sort of Brando’s whole deal.
When the American Film Institute (AFI) released its list of ‘100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes’, two lines from Streetcar made the cut. One was Blanche’s admission that she had “always depended on the kindness of strangers,” which was of course immortalised in song by The Simpsons. The most famous line from the film has to be Brando calling out to his wife by yelling “Stellaaaaaaaa!” over and over again. We’re not sure why Johnson quotes this so much, but we’d pay good money to see it.
There are, quite frankly, too many films, and not enough time to watch them all. Johnson shouldn’t feel too bad that he hasn’t seen A Streetcar Named Desire, although maybe people would stop asking him about it if he stopped yelling “Stellaaaaaaaa!” so often.
