Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson had bt rponse to beg told he shouldn't play gay

is dwayne johnson the rock gay

Fd out once and for all: Is Dwayne Johnson gay? Unverg the tth about "The Rock" and his sexual orientatn. Click now to fd out!

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THE ROCK PLAYED A GAY CHARACTER DPE BEG TOLD IT WOULD ‘RU’ HIS CAREER FOR GOOD

Dwayne Johnson was urged by some "fluential people" not to take a gay role when he was startg out as an actor. He told those people to "f*** off." * is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

Johnson's character Be Cool was Elt, an openly gay Samoan man who worked as a bodyguard the mic dtry and had dreams of beg a star himself. While a lot of the humor surroundg Elt volved the kd of mid-00s gay jok that probably wouldn't fly now, Johnson don't play him as a joke, mtg to the character fully. )However, Johnson has jt revealed that those early stag of his actg reer, he was advised by some "fluential" dtry people to avoid playg gay, as uld "" his chanc of gettg bigger movie rol.

I was told back then (by a few fluential folks) that playg a gay man would “ my reer”I said “hold my tequila and f*ck off”Nicely of urse ? Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 31, 2022Philip Ellis is News Edor at Men's Health, verg fns, pop culture, sex and relatnships, and LGBTQ+ issu. Dwayne Johnson wasn't aaid to play gay the early days of his reer -- and he's still proud to let everyone know about ! The film was one of the earlier projects Johnson took on his transn om profsnal WWE wrtler to workg actor, and , he plays a character named Elt Wilhelm, a gay bodyguard who (like Johnson IRL) had dreams of makg a name for himself the film dtry.

Though the movie was one of the steppg ston that helped Johnson bee one of the most sought-after box office stars Hollywood today, there were some folks the dtry who advised him not to take on, pecially sce the climate was so much different (and homophobic) for LGBTQ+ people back those days.

DWAYNE ‘THE ROCK’ JOHNSON OPENS UP ABOUT PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER

The wrtler looked back on his past Out ver while sharg a story about some unwanted advice he got about playg a gay role. * is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

\nI was told back then (by a few fluential folks) that playg a gay man would \u201c my reer\u201d\nI said \u201chold my tequila and f*ck off\u201d\nNicely of urse \ud83d\u0a\u201d — Dwayne Johnson (@Dwayne Johnson). "I was told back then (by a few fluential folks) that playg a gay man would ' my reer. "Johnson would later go on to star a whole bunch of different, bt-sellg, actn-packed films that clu Gridiron Gang, the Fast & Fur anchise, Jungle Cise, Skyscraper, Hercul, Baywatch, Black Adam and so much more, so 's a good thg he didn't let homophobia stop him om dog his job as an actor!

IS DWAYNE JOHNSON MARRIED, HAS A GIRLIEND OR GAY?

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has spoken out about the attus of “fluential folks” Hollywood rponse to him playg a gay character. * is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

RELATED | Jack Whehall & Dwayne Johnson Reflect on Gay Jungle Cise Moment. AdvertisementDwayne ’The Rock’ Johnson has spoken out about the homophobic attus of “fluential folks” Hollywood rponse to him playg a gay character.

Johnson, who played an openly gay man named Elt the film, was one of his earlit film appearanc. Johnson, who is known as an ally to the muny, revealed that he was advised to avoid playg gay characters as uld “” his chanc of landg more proment rol the future.

DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON IS LOVG GAY RUGBY PLAYER KEEGAN HIRT’S TRIBUTE TO HIM

Wrtlg superstar and actor, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, believ that his gay celebry iends should e forward about their sexualy - believg that will serve as a tremendo reer boost. 'The Mummy Returns' star land his own sp-off ... * is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

“I was told back then (by a few fluential folks) that playg a gay man would ‘ my reer.

DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON: IS DWAYNE JOHNSON GAY?

* is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

Even though Dwayne Johnson may have the “male”, “non-gay” look (bee there is a look), there will be speculatn about which team he swgs for. Is He Gay?

IS “THE ROCK” DWAYNE JOHNSON GAY?

In Disney's new 'Jungle Cise,' Jack Whehall -stars as the gay brother of Ey Blunt's character. * is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

Given that, would be very difficult to label him “gay.

‘JUNGLE CISE’ STAR JACK WHEHALL IS ‘PROUD’ OF HIS GAY CHARACTER’S COMG-OUT SCENE DISNEY FILM

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson had an inic rponse when “fluential folks” told said playg a gay character would “” his actg reer.  * is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

Wrtlg superstar and actor, DWAYNE 'THE ROCK' JOHNSON, believ that his gay celebry iends should e forward about their sexualy - believg that will serve as a tremendo reer boost. 'The Mummy Returns' star land his own sp-off 'The Srpn Kg', as well as landg the role of a gay bodyguard John Travolta's edy, 'Be Cool'. Everythg Is Betiful And Nothg Rock claims that the role has opened his ey to homosexualy the movie bs, thkg that should no longer be held agast the reer of a Hollywood star.

In an terview wh gay magaze, 'OUT', sayg: "I know a lot of gay actors Hollywood who don't want to e out, and whatever the reasons are I rpect that. Openly gay gby player Keegan Hirst got props om his sports hero. Keegan Hirst, a Brish player who’s the first openly gay athlete the Brish gby league, recently posted an Instagram and Twter vio to celebrate this sports holiday.

DWAYNE ‘THE ROCK’ JOHNSON HAD BT RPONSE TO BEG TOLD PLAYG GAY WOULD ‘ HIS REER’

Dwayne Johnson reveals a secret he kept for over 20 years about playg a gay character the movi Be Cool his ial days Hollywood * is dwayne johnson the rock gay *

In 2015, Hirst me out as gay, which ma him the first openly gay Brish profsnal gby league player. Is dwayne johnson gay? He is the most famo person to ever e out gay.

Click here to fd out if Dwayne Johnson, popularly known as “The Rock, ” is gay or not.

Was Dwayne Johnson Gay the Past?

THE ROCK GO GAY

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson may have nied beg gay the past, but there’s no nyg that the mcular actor is currently volved a relatnship wh another man. In a 2013 terview wh GQ magaze, Johnson was asked about mors that he was gay and replied: “Who r if I’m gay or not? ” However, the same terview, he also said that he would “absolutely” nsir playg a homosexual character on TV.

While ’s difficult to know whether or not The Rock is gay, the fact that he is volved romantilly wh another man lends crence to the ia. And nsirg how open and ndid he has been about his personal life, we wouldn’t be surprised if he me out as gay at some pot.

DWAYNE JOHNSON LIVERS A PERFORMANCE THAT ALMOST MAK BE COOL WORTH SEEG BY NATHAN RAB STNCH CHARACTERS PAYS TRIBUTE TO GREAT CHARACTER ACTORS BY SGLG OUT A SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE THAT ILLTRAT THEIR MASTERY. SOMETIM A CHARACTER ACTOR’S GREATNS STANDS OUT SHARPER RELIEF WHEN THE FILM THEY’RE STUCK N CHARABLY BE EMED A CRIME AGAST CEMA. THAT IS CERTALY THE SE WH DWAYNE JOHNSON’S JOYOLY UNSELF-NSC TURN AS A GAY BODYGUARD WH A YEN TO BEE A SGER-ACTOR-MOL F. GARY GRAY’S ABYSMAL 2005 BOTCH OF THE ELMORE LEONARD’S BE COOL. A WILDLY UNRPERFORMG SEQUEL TO GET SHORTY, BE COOL GETS JT ABOUT EVERYTHG OTHER THAN JOHNSON'S STG WRONG, BEGNG WH A PREMISE THAT REQUIR EVERYONE WHO LISTENS TO THE MIC OF R&B ALSO-RAN CHRISTA MILIAN TO BE SO BLOWN AWAY THEY’RE NVCED THEY’RE LISTENG TO THE NEXT NA SIMONE. THE FILM’S TAKE ON POP MIC IS SIARLY TONE AF. ITS NCEPTN OF HIP CLUS THE BLACK EYED PEAS, MTV, THE AFOREMENTNED MILIAN, AND AEROSMH, WHO FIGURE PROMENTLY THE PLOT AND ADD TO THE GRAND TRADN OF HUGE ROCK STARS PLAYG THEMSELV MOVI TERRIBLY. ALREADY EP TO THE MADAME TSD’S WAX-FIGURE ERA OF HIS REER, A LACQUERED AND IFFED JOHN TRAVOLTA LIVERS A PERFORMANCE SO SLEEPY AND APATHETIC THAT TO LL SLEEPWALKG WOULD BE AN SULT TO SOMNOLENT PERAMBULATORS. PAIRG HIM WH A HORRIFILLY SHOT AND STUMED UMA THURMAN ALMOST SEEMS SIGNED TO ERASE FOND MEMORI OF PULP FICTN AND RETROACTIVELY STROY THE SEXUAL CHEMISTRY THEY DISPLAYED THAT FILM.  JT ABOUT EVERYTHG ABOUT BE COOL IS A BLOATED, TONE-AF MS WH THE EXCEPTN OF JOHNSON’S PERFORMANCE AS ELLT, THE BODYGUARD AND SIKICK OF ROGER “RAJI” LOWENTHAL, VCE VGHN’S RACIALLY NFED WOULD-BE UNRWORLD PLAYER. IN HIS FIRST SCENE, ELLT IS DISPENSED TO BEAT UP JOHN TRAVOLTA’S CHILI PALMER ON BEHALF OF RAJI, BUT THE MOMENT CHILI REGNIZ ELTT AS AN ACTOR—A MOR ONE, SPE HIS PHYSIL STATURE—HIS LD EXPRSN GIV WAY TO A SHAMELS WANNABE’S GRATIATG SE.  IN PART TO NTRALIZE THE THREAT, CHILI OFFERS TO BEE ELLT’S MANAGER. PUFFED FULL OF WONRFULLY MISPLACED NFINCE, ELLT SEEMS NVCED THAT HE N ATTA STARDOM MULTIPLE FIELDS—ACTG, UNTRY AND WTERN SGG—LARGELY ON THE BASIS OF HIS ABILY TO RAISE ONE EYEBROW DRAMATILLY. ELLT IS A NARCISSIST ABOVE ALL AND, ONE OF THE FILM’S BT SCEN, HE SASHAYS ABOUT A UNTRY-AND-WTERN STORE MOLG THE UGLIT POSSIBLE OUTFS, CLUDG A SILK SHIRT AND BABY-BLUE PANTS, VAMPG THE MIRROR, SMACKG HIS ASS, AND GENERALLY LUXURIATG ACTORLY SELF-LOVE.  NETY MUT OF JOHNSON ADMIRG HIMSELF CREASGLY SEXUAL WAYS WOULD BE FELY PREFERABLE TO WHAT MAK UP THE BULK OF BE COOL. PERHAPS BEE HE OM THE WORLD OF WRTLG, JOHNSON DON’T NEED DIALOGUE TO BE PELLG. HIS CHARACTER’S HEAD SHOTS GET BIGGER LGHS THAN ANYONE ELSE’S ACTUAL DIALOGUE. HIS RAISED EYEBROW GETS QUE THE WORKOUT HERE— IS AS MUCH HIS LLG RD AS WAS DURG HIS TIME THE WWE—BUT WOULDN’T WORK HALF AS EFFECTIVELY IF WASN’T ACPANIED BY THAT BIG, CHEY, CHILD-LIKE GR THAT IMPLICLY SAYS, “CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE I N DO THIS?”  LATER, A TRATED ELLT, NCERNED THAT HIS REER AS AN ACTOR AND SGER ISN’T EXPLODG, SPE CHILI’S MANAGEMENT, BREAKS TO THE HOE OF UMA THURMAN’S CHARACTER, MAK SOME TEA, POPS A VIO OF HIM VERG, “YOU A’T WOMAN ENOUGH TO TAKE MY MAN,” AND CLIMACTILLY AGRE TO PERFORM WHAT HE NCEIV OF AS A “MONOLOGUE” OM BRG IT ON THAT NSISTS OF HIM TAKG ON BOTH SIS OF A HEATED NONTATN BETWEEN CHARACTERS OF DIFFERENT RAC. THE SCENE IS FULL OF WONRFUL LTLE CHOIC, AS WHEN JOHNSON EXHAL EPLY BEFORE THE “MONOLOGUE” AS IF NEEDG TO NJURE ALL OF HIS STRENGTH AND TENSY FOR THIS MOST MOMENTO OF OPPORTUNI, LIKE AN ACTOR PREPARG SOME SHAKPEARE  AN ATTEMPT TO GET TO JULIARD.  WHEN CHILI, AS DIPLOMATILLY AS POSSIBLE, SUGGTS MIGHT BEHOOVE ELLT TO SG SONGS OM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A MAN AND LIKEWISE LIVER MONOLOGU OM MALE CHARACTERS, ELLT TAK ALL THOUGHTFULLY, AS IF ’S THE FIRST TIME EHER NOTN OCCURRED TO HIM. THE TENNCY WH A CHARACTER LIKE ELLT IS TO GO AS BIG AND BROAD AS POSSIBLE, AND, SURE, JOHNSON EQUENTLY THE BODY LANGUAGE OF A SASSY TEENAGED GIRL, BUT ELLT’S STAT AS A SPERATE ACTOR-SGER WHO’LL DO ANYTHG TO GET AHEAD F HIM AS MUCH, IF NOT MORE, THAN HIS SEXUALY. THERE’S A JOY TO JOHNSON’S PERFORMANCE THAT’S ABSOLUTELY FECT. HE’S FUN TO LOOK AT AND HE NEVER TAK HIMSELF SERLY. YOU N GO THOUGH JOHNSON’S ENTIRE FILMOGRAPHY AND NEVER FD A SGLE MOMENT OF PRETENSN OR SELF-NSCNS. EVEN THE DREGS OF PA & GA, HE GIV HIS ALL. I THK JOHNSON IS A LEGIMATELY GREAT CHARACTER ACTOR WH AT THE VERY LEAST AN AMY AWARD NOMATN HIS FUTURE. AND EVEN IF HE NEVER REACH THOSE RARIFIED HEIGHTS, HE’S STED TO IMPROVE EVERY MOVIE HE’S , PARTICULARLY WHEN PLAYG THE KDS OF CHARACTER PARTS.  UP NEXT: KATHY BAT MISERY  MOST RECENT NEWS

There have been mors for years that Johnson is gay. In an terview wh OUT magaze published 2016, Johnson refed to nfirm or ny whether he was gay but said he wanted to see more gay characters on televisn and films.

While there’s no evince that Johnson is openly gay, his refal to addrs the mors suggts he may not be open about his sexualy. Some believe that he is gay, while others thk he is straight.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* IS DWAYNE JOHNSON THE ROCK GAY

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24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kAEsuD viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU cjjxgx bookmark mobile"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP imbgVA"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG lmuXQm"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">In 1996, a twenty-four-year-old Dwayne Johnson ma his début the World Wrtlg Feratn as Rocky Maivia, sportg rnflower-blue tnks and a thirsty whe se. The event was the annual Survivor Seri, a wner-take-all group match. A big boy (six feet five and two hundred and seventy-five pounds, but nimble), Johnson was there to h the big time, and he beat out the petn as though was prested—and of urse was. Profsnal wrtlg is not a race but a pageant, and fans’ sympathi factor to the spectacle. Though they cheered for Rocky that first day, his greenhorn charm wore off fast. It was the neti, the dawn of the W.W.F.’s so-termed Attu Era. The people wanted a dose of anti-tablishmentarianism wh their ass-whippg, and already characters such as Stone Cold Steve At were abradg themselv acrdgly. There was ltle room for a beatific kid like Maivia, grng e victory or loss. A keen pupil of the game, Johnson knew that an adjtment was due.</p><p class="paywall">So when the feratn’s ont office asked if he would be terted “turng heel,” dtry parlance for flippg to the dark si, Johnson agreed—wh ndns. Per management’s suggtn, Rocky Maivia would make an allegiance wh the Natn of Domatn, a multiracial factn wh the W.W.F. whose signatur clud wearg kufis and raisg their fists a ant salute. Johnson, the child of a Samoan mother and a Black father, had the sk to f , but he chafed at the nce. “I wanted to be a heel the worst way,” he would rell, his 2000 memoir, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Rock Says . . .,</a>” but “I wasn’t fortable wh the notn of perpetuatg stereotyp.” Steppg out wh his new crew for the first time, 1997, Maivia prented himself as among but not of them, tellg the crowd, “Jog the Natn wasn’t a Black thg. It wasn’t a whe thg.” As his story progrsed, he took om the Natn what he need to shed Rocky Maivia and revent himself as the Rock, a “trail-blaz’, eyebrow-rais’ ” cs known for smack talk librated to tillate and offend. “You are all untelligent piec of trailer-park trash,” he spat. “Do you smell ?”</p><p class="paywall">The Rock had showmanship spas, stalkg the rg leather getups and sunni, puttg the full, flexg extensn of his body to e signature mov like the body-on-body thumpg Rock Bottom. He worked the crowd real good, lendg humor to the choreography and brazenly soakg up applse. His villay ma him beloved, and ma his name synonymo wh an era of peak populary for profsnal wrtlg the U.S. The crossover appeal of the strongman was hardly unprecented; the wrtlers Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan had broken to movi the prr, and Arnold Schwarzenegger had parlayed his charisma to make the leap om bodybuilr to blockbter star. But Johnson didn’t exactly have many mols for his pathway to the mastream. As he’s told Oprah Wey, “There wasn’t a ‘Oh, look, jt do like that other Black Samoan guy did .’ ”</p><p class="paywall">It’s funny that the wrtler who clched his succs by breakg bad went on to bee one of our tamt movie stars. Early Johnson’s Hollywood reer there was still somethg sensual and unrefed about all that brown sk— “The Mummy Returns” (2001), wh the Rock as a bare-chted Mopotamian kg seemgly styled after bodice-ripper fantasi of Apache warrrs, or even, dare I say, the sports drama “Gridiron Gang” (2006), which he played a ach whose jet-black buzz was neher as high nor as tight as his mascule spir. But somewhere the time sce, amid the post-9/11 fixatn on rporatized superhumans and the nsolidatn of the lennium blockbter, amid a racial optimism that peaked (Obama) and then dissipated (Obama), amid the balloong imperative that our movie stars brandish their inti as readily as their s—somewhere along all that way, the Rock’s animal magism was expertly discipled. At the same time, Johnson beme one of the hight-paid entertaers Hollywood, and practilly a genre unto himself. Browsg through movie selectns on a recent flight, I found the tegori “Funny Movi,” “Actn and Thrills,” “Perd Piec,” and “The Rock.”</p><p class="paywall">The 2021 Disney film “Jungle Cise” ma certa patterns nspicuo. Based on an agg theme-park attractn, starred Ey Blunt as a botanist and Johnson as her skipper, as they embarked on adventure and a grand, lonial love story. But more than the zombie nquistadors and the Amazon River-bound U-boats, what stretched a viewer’s patience durg the two-pl hours of PG-13 actn was the plete lack of actn between the leads. The year before, Johnson had been named <em>People’s</em> “Sexit Man Alive.” (“It starts wh the sk,” he told the magaze, addg, “I exfoliate.”) Why wouldn’t his character get on, or at least act like he wanted to? Prompted by the movie’s tepidns, the cric Alison Willmore surveyed the rt of Johnson’s filmography and disvered a peculiar lack of rnaly there. Johnson “may be built like a ic-book hero e to life,” she wrote, but his rporal pleasur were limed to his body’s “pacy to timidate and serve as a spectacle.” Matt Zoller Sez, his review of “Jungle Cise,” wrote that the absence of “sexual heat” Johnson’s films “is often (strangely) a bug, or perhaps a feature.”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Image may nta Clothg Hat Apparel Human Person Dwayne Johnson and Ey Blunt" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">The Disney movie “Jungle Cise” highlighted the peculiar lack of eroticism Johnson’s film rol.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph om Disney / Pictorial Prs / Alamy</span></div></figure><p class="paywall">A brown man wh all the right parts is prived of sexualy: sounds like a faiar Amerin fable. A natn panicked by sex, swallowed whole by racial anxieti, crav a star who n safely ntralize the tensns on the silver screen. As Cay Weaver put a <em>GQ</em> piece tled “<a href=">Dwayne Johnson for Print!</a>,” at a time when culture is as polarizg as polics, he’s “someone ’s safe to like.” The cric Wley Morris has voked Johnson as evince of the lgerg fear of Black male sexualy the movi. “A century after [D. W.] Griffh, you’re ee to go to a theater and watch Chris Hemsworth throw his legs open and para his fictnal endowment, while sparg a thought for what would mean if a black star who go by the Rock were to do the same.” It’s te that our age of Black-led hs has plenty mon wh Hollywood’s history of silog Black actors to palatable typ. And yet “<a href=">Mandgo</a>” panic nnot fully expla Johnson’s onscreen chasty, bee his Blackns the movi is rarely a given. On the ntrary, role after anodyne role—cludg his latt, the DC Comics blockbter “<a href=">Black Adam</a>”—Johnson slips and out of racial tegori at will. The only fixed aspect of his onscreen prence is his own sgular stardom.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Born Northern California, 1972, Johnson had a peripatetic childhood, but he often speaks of Hawaii as the place that ma him. His father, Rocky, was a profsnal wrtler om Nova Stia. His mother, Ata, was the dghter of parents who were both pillars of the wrtlg bs. High Chief Peter Maivia, a champn wrtler both New Zealand and the Uned Stat, and his wife, Lia Maivia, a steely promoter wh the Hawaii terrory, did not approve of Rocky as their dghter’s mate. “Now, you might thk this had somethg to do wh the fact that Rocky is Ain Amerin,” Johnson wr, his memoir. “But didn’t. Hell, Samoans are people of lor, too.” The Maivias, havg seen the “mons” of the showman life style, simply did not wish to see their child pair off wh a wrtler.</p><p class="paywall">Rocky and Ata eloped and travelled equently for Rocky’s match, ually wh the South. But when Johnson was eight they ma a home on Oahu and were enfold back to the Maivia wrtlg clan. One scratchy photo om the time shows a young Johnson seated on the bicep of Andre the Giant. A Polynian wrtler and iend of the High Chief lent Johnson the tnks for his first proper match, Corp Christi 1996. In his memoir, Johnson narrat his youth height-weight stats, as a gym diary. At thirteen—a hundred and seventy pounds, and more than six feet—his teen’s body was beg received as a man’s. Johnson prents his burgeong mass as extrible om his dawng sexualy. “When me to fightg or fornitg, I was way ahead of the curve,” he wr, explag that he lost his virgy at fourteen to a Hawaiian girl four years his senr. On gettg to fights, he wr, “Not only did I attract the attentn of olr women, I also seemed to get a rise out of men. Olr boys, actually . . . . I was bigger, stronger, and more nfint.”</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Johnson has been open about his ght relatnship wh his father, sayg, “My dad loved me wh the small pabily he was pable of.” In a profile last year <em>Vany Fair</em>, Johnson scribed a fierce argument wh his father over a memoir that Rocky had published shortly before his ath, early 2020. The book boasted a foreword allegedly wrten by Johnson, credg Rocky for “everythg I’ve done wrtlg, the movi, TV shows and overall bs opportuni.” Johnson hadn’t wrten those words. On “Young Rock,” Johnson’s tobgraphil s on NBC, the character of Rocky (Joseph Lee Anrson) rri a whiff of danger, and we see him break promis to his fay. The mandat of suatnal edy soften the father’s edg. Sg and vibrant and jacked, he is portrayed through a child’s ey. Still, the show foments a strange tensn between the Rocky of the past and the Rock of the prent, juxtaposg the charisma of an elegiac father figure wh the magism of the superstar that the son will bee.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="os793o"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">In the première of “Young Rock,” the Johnson character scrib how his father tght him the wisdom of “workg the gimmick,” a wrtlg term for one’s persona the rg. In hong his own gimmick, Johnson followed his father’s footsteps. Profsnal wrtlg Rocky’s day ran on fixed typ. If you were tall or beard or Italian or backwater or fat or brown and not om here, you stumed yourself acrdgly and leaned to the b. But Johnson wr his memoir that his father risted beg a “jive-talkg riture.” In a Season 2 episo of “Young Rock,” a teen-aged Johnson watch Rocky turn down a well-payg gig hard tim rather than shoot a promo wh watermelon and a plate of ied chicken. “Promise me one thg,” the father says to his son. Whether or not that scenar really occurred, Johnson got the msage. “I’ve never stopped workg the gimmick,” he says on the show. “I’ve jt ma the gimmick work for me.”</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">Racial inty on the Hawaiian Islands follows s own l. In a place that has seen occupatn but never same ndns as the Old South, Blackns wks and out of relevance. The scholar Nasha Sharma wrote a recent ethnography that figur such as Ja Mock, born Honolulu, “are often read natnally as Black, but lolly as multiracial.” Someone like the Rock n still be “hailed for beg a ‘native son.’ ” (To an extent, at least: 2018, some Native Hawaiians were dismayed by the news that Johnson would star a bpic of the Hawaiian kg Kamehameha.) On an “S.N.L.” sketch lled “The Rock Obama,” Johnson played the alter ego of the other, more famo Black child of the Islands. The nce—what if Obama lost his ol?—was a hybrid of “The Hulk” and the popular “<a href=">Key & Peele</a>” sketch about Obama’s “anger translator.” But whereas Keegan-Michael Key’s portrayal rived s edy om the fluency of his Black vernacular speech—what if Obama acted Black?—Johnson jt did anger oafishly. The character was not a hothead but a himbo, a Printial lunkhead. His passable Obama imprsn was wasted on such haltg l as, “Is tertg pot but me no like,” and any racial isson the premise was wasted. The Rock Obama was more Tarzan than ape.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Johnson as The Rock Obama on Saturday Night Live." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">For the S.N.L sketch “The Rock Obama,” Johnson played another famo Black son of Hawaii.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph by  Dana Elson / NBC / Getty</span></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">There’s a nng joke onle that Johnson is always starrg the same film. “The are four separate movi,” one observer not, sharg a grid of four stills that show Johnson clothed eher gray athleisure or a tan safari shirt open past the throat, standg agast a variety of verdant tropil settgs. The body always matas s mcled shape and tone. The slp is always buzzed to a gleamg smoothns. (“I’m not bald bee I went bald,” Johnson has said. “I’m bald bee my hair is a cross between an Ao and hair om a llama’s ball sac.”) The pot is that the Rock is a star whose chief virtue is nstancy. In his filmography, the hero’s love terts are chaste or die offscreen. Sex is some adolcent joke, and children are immaculately nceived. The arc of the HBO sports dramedy “Ballers” is, to me, emblematic of his Hollywood trajectory. In the first season, om 2015, viewers were treated to a shot of Johnson’s character, Spence, mid-screw, bare backsi and all. Not long thereafter, the lucky woman was spired away by the forc of plot, and over the followg four seasons the show ntued to fd nvenient reasons to disappear Spence’s girliends. By the end of the fale, he is the first Black majory owner the N.F.L. Owg to a mysterly clg sperm unt, he may also be impotent.</p><p class="paywall">The “Baywatch” remake, om 2017, was somethg of an outlier. As a bronzed and vulgar-mouthed litenant lifeguard, Johnson exud virily. As a iend of me put , he “topped the fuck out of Zac Eon,” metaphorilly speakg. But other rol om the —many of them ma by Johnson’s productn pany, Seven Bucks—were both nsistently pdish and racially all over the place. He played an all-Amerin first rponr wh a whe wife and dghter (“San Andreas”) and a Nigerian primatologist (“Rampage”). In the “Fast & Fur” anchise he was straight out of Samoa, jog a st that had s fair share of all-Amerin Negro to balance out the ame.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Johnson was reced to the “Fast” Fam by another light-skned actn hero, V Diel, but the two men famoly do not get along. The beef between them is tellg. Diel, who has lled himself “Hollywood’s first multicultural megastar,” clearly feels that he’s owed some cred for Johnson’s succs. “I’ve protected Dwayne more than he knows,” he has said. Unlike Johnson, Diel has been liberately y about his racial inty offscreen. (“Is he Black or not? V Diel won’t say,” a 2002 issue of <em>Ebony</em> teased—while nohels cludg him among s “57 Most Intrigug Blacks.”) In a neti short film that he wrote and directed, lled “Multi-Facial,” Diel plays Mike, an actor on the dn circu, stgglg to f among Hollywood’s rigid racial s. His ambiguo appearance allows him to dn for a wi variety of rol—Italian Amerin, Lato, Black Amerin—but prevents him om landg any of them. “I uld read you but you’re really too light,” he’s told at one dn. In a prepared monologue, Mike tells a story about watchg his father, also an actor, play Walter Lee a productn of “A Rais the Sun”: “My dad was a Black actor. But he wanted me to go one step further. He wanted me to be an actor. Jt an actor.”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="V Diel and Johnson facg each other" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">V Diel and Johnson face off a scene om “Fast Five.” The rivalry extends offscreen.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Album / Alamy Stock Photo</span></div></figure><p class="paywall">You n see how Johnson would rankle. Diel’s standout creds of the past have been rtricted to the “Fast & Fur” seri and a voice-actg role for Marvel, but Johnson has put his brown sk to work as the “Multi-Facial” protagonist only dreamed of (and, should be noted, as a light-sk Black actrs almost certaly uldn’t). Maybe ’s Diel’s voice, which is cently ep, wh the texture of cshed velvet. Maybe ’s his face, which is too workmanlike to ever unt as tentpole pretty. Meanwhile, the baby-faced Johnson was praised <em>Ebony</em> for managg to “uphold and celebrate his Black and Samoan herag equally,” and has proved himself apt at playg both and neher. Toward the end of “Fast Five,” Johnson and Diel face off a warehoe. We’re to unrstand them as equals, or foils, two men alike plexn and groomg, on opposg missns, who, as plot would have , end up sharg a mon goal. Diel’s character ws the fight, but Johnson won the war.</p><p class="paywall">Johnson’s performanc have a way of throwg the Blackns of his fellow Black stars to relief. In Michael Bay’s heist movie “Pa & Ga” (2013), he got the relatively meaty part as an evangelil ex-n, while his darker skned star, Anthony Mackie, was left to play the mstrel—“the big black man tears,” as one character puts . (The reason he cri: steroid-duced shrkage.) His equent team-ups wh Kev Hart, charmg as they are, work part bee Hart is willg to embrace the kd of racialized gimmick that Johnson rejects. There is a scene “Jumanji: Wele to the Jungle” (2017) that is orchtrated for a b of dick humor: three -game avatars, played by Johnson, Jack Black, and Kev Hart, stand pissg si by si. “I’m happy to report I was able to brg one thg om the outsi world,” Hart jok, pleased wh his virtual member. Black’s character tri to sneak a peek. Johnson’s, standg the middle, is the only one who mak no mentn of his own Johnson. He’s primarily ncerned wh aim.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="urfqjc"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bDFJoo"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">I’m not opposed to Wley Morris’s theory that Johnson’s sexlsns n be unrstood as a punive byproduct of his Blackns. But what if was all acrdg to plan? Johnson has leveraged the elasticy of his racial inty to ee himself om sexual baggage. He has sacrificed his natural trigue and virtuosy at the altar of bankabily.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">There are signs, his early films, of the stranger star who uld have been. I am thkg, for stance, of “Be Cool” (2005), the sequel to “Get Shorty,” which Johnson plays Ellt, a gay bodyguard for a thug-life wannabe played by Vce Vghn. When I watch the movie, I’m remd that Johnson’s face and body ed to really move. There were the People’s Eyebrow, y, but also the People’s hips and torso. The character of Ellt is also an aspirg actor, and (through some plot mishegoss) he ends up performg a scene om “Brg It On” that tak place between the characters played by Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Unn. Deliverg Unn’s l, Johnson’s entire posture chang: his hand go on his hip, his fgers snap, his neck rolls, a diamond flash his ear. It’s silly but also rather risky—a Black Samoan man playg a “Samoan faggot” playg a mean Black hottie. On YouTube, one menter clared, “This is the Rock’s greatt achievement film.”</p><p class="paywall">I’d be cled to agree if weren’t for his turn “Southland Tal,” a knotty 2006 film by the wrer-director of “Donnie Darko.” Johnson is Boxer Santaros, who has lost his memory as a nsequence of experimental time travel. In his former life, he was a movie star (and a Republin), but absent this knowledge he mt now improvise his way to a new life. “You n see him tryg on the var rol,” the cric Steven Shaviro has wrten. Twchy and anx and perpetually befuddled, Johnson here is very unlike any versn of the Rock that fans had known prevly. One of my favore parts of his performance an early scene wh Seann William Stt, who (plot mishegoss aga) is playg a character tryg on the role of a racist p. “To be hont, we’re jt lookg for the niggers,” Stt’s character tells Santaros durg a ri-along. The ment sets off a cha of facial reactns Johnson’s character, as he tri to terme whether the officer is jokg and port himself acrdgly. Stony one moment and tightly grng when the mera cuts back a send later, Johnson’s face lends the scene s awkward edic pulse. It is exhilaratg to see the Rock tryg to be somebody other than the Rock.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">As Black Adam the DC Extend Universe, Johnson has, theory, turned heel aga, as his W.W.F. days. The character is an ancient baddie wh an anger problem—technilly a supervilla. Johnson has said that DC origally wanted the character slotted to the 2019 film “Shazam!,” a edy, but that he sisted on gog a darker directn. Black Adam has been sold as a parture om the unimpeachable versn of Johnson we know, and a harkeng back to his own grtier origs. “Superman was the hero I uld never be,” Johnson has said, rellg his rebell youth. He’s boasted that Black Adam has no problem <a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">killg people</a>, and the producers have advertised that the film barely secured s PG-13 ratg. The sp seems to have paid off, mercially at least—“Black Adam” is Johnson’s bt solo openg to date.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Johnson wh lightng as Black Adam." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Johnson has said, of his role as the DC supervilla Black Adam, “Superman was the hero I uld never be.”</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph urty Warner Bros. Pictur</span></div></figure><p class="paywall">The lor the film’s tle do not refer to race—not exactly. “The Black Black Adam refers to his soul,” Johnson recently told <a href="><em>Vany Fair</em></a>. The character, origally known as Teth-Adam, was born a slave the fictnal Middle East civilizatn of Kahndaq and was gifted wh superpowers after rebellg agast his enslavers. In the film’s prent day, he has been summoned to save morn-day Kahndaq om lonial occupatn (a thly veiled alln to Palte). The role leav ltle room even for the Rock’s signature charm. Adam speaks eher the fictnal native tongue of Kahndaq or haltg English. A thickly built sentel, he travels at warp speed and stroys discrimately. (The soundtrack to his first rampage: the Rollg Ston’ “Pat It, Black.”) Dpe s subject matter, the film go out of s way to disentangle self om racial polics, assemblg an equally diverse st of do-goors and antagonists. Yet there is an unwtg meta-edy the film’s sistence on only spirual “darkns.” In a post-creds sequence, <a href=">Vla Davis</a> (as the DC honcho Amanda Waller) greets Adam her lippy, tramark enunciatn, unrsrg—wh a b of annoyance, maybe—his new appellatn: “O.K., <em>Black</em> Adam. Congratulatns, you have my attentn.”</p><p class="paywall">There is a trace of ln Johnson’s ia that a superhero movie uld herald his return to form. It is not a new observatn that ntemporary blockbter anchis are unterted the body beyond s pacy as a weapon. “Sexualy don’t exist for superhero—they are ntered,” <a href=">Pedro Almódovar</a> has said. In a recent terview, Jam Cameron, soundg perhaps a b too high on his horse, observed, of today’s actn hero, “They all act like they’re llege. They have relatnships, but they really don’t.” Black Adam was never gog to be the role which Johnson reclaimed his btial si. There is one moment, though. It happens near the end, and, mdful of spoilers, I’ll jt say that Adam is seated. We are lookg up at him, as though kneelg at his feet, an unual angle for films like the, which often re more about what’s gog on above the torso than below. Johnson’s body language is a provotn: his legs are spread, sually, like a scumbag royal, his black sk su stretchg and flexg over his ample form. The image is suggtive, a signifier whout a referent. What are Adam’s wants? What are his sir? (Do he have any bis revenge?) The film ultimately falls back on the trope of the “antihero,” which is to say that Black Adam’s soul is black but not <em>too</em> black. Wh the right brandg, darkns n be somethg universal, too. “You may terpret him as a supervilla, antihero, protector, even a superhero,” Johnson has said of the film, addg, “You may not agree wh his philosophy, but everyone unrstands.” ♦</p></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS jyGBoi"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body article__body--grid-margs"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv jfHKjr"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG bGJnrW ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy fzwwkW article-body__footer"><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="LkStackWrapper-NFLYw kgtXXB lkstack" data-ttid="LkStack"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG LkStackHear-lKjbE hejl lk-stack--headg" data-ttid="SectnTle"><h2 class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">New Yorker Favor</h2></div><div class="LkStackContent-jyKicS gPhyME"><ul class="LkStackList-gGcjdZ dnMwpz"><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>The killer who <a href="/magaze/1995/06/05/rejectg-ga" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">got to Harvard</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>A thief who <a href="/magaze/2004/05/17/the-silver-thief" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">stole only silver</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>The light of the <a href="/tech/annals-of-technology/the-first-light-of-the-try-atomic-tt" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">world’s first nuclear bomb</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>How Steve Mart <a href="/magaze/2007/10/29/-the-bird-ge" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">learned what’s funny</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Growg up as the <a href="/magaze/1998/11/16/the-ln-and-me" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">son of the Cowardly Ln</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Amelia Earhart’s <a href="/magaze/2009/09/14/amelia-earhart-last-flight" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">last flight</a>.</p></div></li><li class="LkStackBullet-kQRqul iQHwiG lk-stack--lk-em" data-ttid="LkStackBullet"><div><p>Fictn by Milan Kunra: “<a href="/magaze/1984/03/19/the-unbearable-lightns-of-beg" class="InternalLkEmbedWrapper-fhjgJW cQLtaa">The Unbearable Lightns of Beg</a>.”</p></div></li></ul><div class="LkStackFooter-KfRyO ebnmps lk-stack--footer"><div><p><a href=">Sign up</a> for our daily newsletter to receive the bt stori om <em>The New Yorker</em>.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/lren-michele-jackson"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/lren-michele-jackson">Lren Michele Jackson</a>, a ntributg wrer at The New Yorker, is an assistant profsor of English at Northwtern Universy and the thor of “<a href=">Whe Negro</a>.”</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK eRggVV grid grid-margs grid-ems-0"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/movi" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Movi</span></a><a href="/tag/televisn" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Televisn</span></a><a href="/tag/wrtlg" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span 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summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="How “Wter Kills” Nails the Paranoid Style" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">The Front Row</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">How “Wter Kills” Nails the Paranoid Style</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="How “Wter Kills” Nails the Paranoid Style" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">William Richert’s 1979 neo-noir ph the nspiracy-theory genre to s lims.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Richard Brody</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Disciplg Power of Disappotment" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Unr Review</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Disciplg Power of Disappotment</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Disciplg Power of Disappotment" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">In a new book, Sara Marc argu that Amerin polics are fed by unfulfilled sire.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Hollywood’s Slo-Mo Self-Sabotage" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Cultural Comment</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Hollywood’s Slo-Mo Self-Sabotage</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Hollywood’s Slo-Mo Self-Sabotage" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Sce the streamg era, movi and televisn feel ls special, labor ndns have plummeted, and turbulent mergers and layoffs ll to qutn which legendary stutns will still stand another ten or twenty years.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Inkoo Kang</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="“The Shark Is Broken” Circl the Guts of “Jaws”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">The Theatre</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">“The Shark Is Broken” Circl the Guts of “Jaws”</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="“The Shark Is Broken” Circl the Guts of “Jaws”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The new Broadway play, by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, imag equently irrable chats among the movie’s three ma actors, cludg Shaw’s father, Robert Shaw.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Helen Shaw</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div 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