Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is flexing his muscles on the set of New Line Cinema’s Rampage, which is now filming in Atlanta, for an April 20, 2018, release.
Based on the popular Midway video game, Johnson plays Davis Okoye, a primatologist who shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent, silverback gorilla who has been in his care since birth. But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry transforms this gentle ape into a raging monster.
“ In this scene, our Oscar-winning Weta Digital is using their groundbreaking ‘performance capture’ to bring ‘George’ the Silverback to life,” says Johnson of the first photo, pictured above. “It uses over 30 special cameras to ‘see’ the performance of my co-actor [Jason Liles], allowing the digital artists to make the most realistic and badass animations possible. He’s wearing a ‘facial capture helmet’ and we can record every muscle movement and expression and emotion of George as goes on a rampage. Jason studied gorillas for months preparing for this performance capture role – facial expressions, sounds, habits, and emotions. Spectacular performance. What a learning curve for me and such a pleasure to help produce these amazing artists who come to set daily to be game changers.”
The second photo displays Johnson with two of his costars.
“Rampaging nights with my partners in crime, Naomie Harris and Jeffery Dean Morgan,” he explained of his costars. “The animal-loving anti-poacher Ranger from Rwanda, the groundbreaking geneticist from CRISPR and the cowboy himself from the OGA – the ‘other’ government agency.”
