Red One”, a movie with a production budget of 250 million USD, has not been released yet but has been negatively affected by the noise of its male lead The Rock.
According to The Guardian , Red One – Amazon MGM’s upcoming Christmas-themed film – can be considered one of the most curious and talked-about films of the year as it marks the first collaboration between Chris Evans and The Rock.
This is also a reunion project between The Rock and director Jake Kasdan as well as colleagues at Seven Bucks Productions after the success of the Jumanji blockbusters Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and The Next Level (2019).
However, so far, discussions about Red One have been mostly negative, from questions about The Rock’s unprofessionalism to criticized moments in the trailer.
The Rock accused of unprofessional work
In April, The Wrap reported that the production of Red One was plagued by unprofessionalism from lead actor The Rock. The actor was accused of consistently arriving eight hours late, forcing the crew to scramble to reschedule. He also reportedly made his assistant throw away bottles of his urine because he didn’t want to go to the bathroom.
The paper quotes people who have worked with The Rock on HBO’s Rampage, Ballers and Netflix’s Red Notice , accusing the actor of treating the “rubber band hour” as normal because of his A-list status. Another person condemned The Rock’s “refuse to work more than four or five hours a day”.
As a result, Red One was delayed from 2023 to November of this year, and the production budget also skyrocketed out of control. According to The Wrap , the film cost an additional $50 million due to The Rock, for a total of $250 million in production costs. This means that Red One is not only the most expensive movie ever made by Amazon, but also the most “biggest” budgeted Christmas movie ever.
To put that into perspective, The Guardian estimates that $250 million for Red One could make 10 Die Hards , 14 Home Alones , or 2.5 Fred Clauses – all of which were huge hits with Christmas themes.
Although an Amazon MGM spokesperson has denied the allegations involving The Rock, controversy continues to surround the actor, affecting the film to some extent. More and more people are speaking out about the “real” persona of this muscular action star.
Mixed opinions about the trailer
The official trailer for Red One was released at the end of June, showing that the film is set in a world where mythical characters such as Santa Claus, centaurs, elves… exist in parallel with the human world. Santa Claus (played by JK Simmons) lives in a base in the North Pole, with advanced technology and amenities no different from a billionaire.
One day, Santa Claus goes missing. North Pole security team leader Callum Drift (The Rock) must team up with intelligence officer Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) to rescue Santa before Christmas.
Stuart Heritage of The Guardian commented that the plot and dialogue in the trailer were “absurdly chaotic”, similar to some low-budget films shown online. This writer commented: ” Red One has the same predictable and forgettable action rhythm as Red Notice with similar scene motifs and character dialogues in other films”.
The AV Club also commented that the banter between Jack O’Malley and Callum Drift lacked humor and didn’t make viewers want to continue watching the video, despite the trailer being only 2 minutes long. The site added: “The trailer just wants us to know that Red One is a round-the-world adventure with chaotic editing. There’s no room for any breather.”
Additionally, the pop song used in the trailer is said to be a mix of Carol Of The Bells and Jay-Z’s Dirt Off Your Shoulder . The catchy melody, The AV Club said, doesn’t fit with the fast-paced atmosphere.
Contrary to the negative opinions, some experts believe that the producers of Red One are misleading the audience by intentionally creating controversy to attract heat for the film before its broadcast. One expert wrote: “Perhaps Hollywood is experimenting to see how strange what is considered the Christmas genre today can become. Red One is that experiment worth waiting for.”
At this time, film writers are divided into many different opinions and predictions, but have not made any overall assertions about the film because it is still too early and does not have enough basis. Whether the work will be highly appreciated or not will still have to wait until its release in November.
