Johnson ‘honoured’ to play amputee
NEWYORK Dwayne Johnson hopes to honour the amputee community by playing a former FBI agent with a prosthetic leg in the new action thriller Skyscraper.
In the film, Johnson plays the security consultant of a Hong Kong skyscraper who must save his family and the city from harm when it becomes engulfed in flames. The problem is intensified when he’s framed for starting the blaze.
“I was honoured to play an amputee, and to make sure I did right by them,” Johnson said on the red carpet for the film’s U.S. première Tuesday night. “The research was very extensive. I spent a lot of time with amputees.”
On Thursday, Johnson also said he’s joining the Boston-based Ruderman Family Foundation, a leading voice in calling for more inclusion and opportunities for the disabled.
He released a short video calling for more inclusion and opportunities for people with disabilities in the entertainment industry. Johnson said Hollywood has excluded characters and actors with disabilities for too long.
“Our industry has a responsibility to tell inclusive stories, and I hope my character in Skyscraper is an example of that commitment,” Johnson said. “I certainly encourage the entire (entertainment) industry to take steps forward to audition and cast actors with disabilities to play characters with and without disabilities. Disability is an essential piece of diversity, and our characters and actors should definitely 100 per cent reflect this.”
One of those he consulted for the role joined Johnson at the première: Jeff Glasbrenner, a Paralympian who became the first American amputee to successfully climb Mount Everest in 2016. Johnson called him “an amazing man.”
Of the film, Johnson added: “There’s two sides to this. One is a big spectacle, big summer fun. The other side is making sure that we paid homage and respect to amputees around the world.”
The film’s writer and director Rawson Marshall Thurber called it “incredibly important” to represent the amputee community.
“There hasn’t been an amputee as the lead of an action film, ever, as far as I know. And I thought it was high time, and I hope we’re not the last. I think Dwayne worked really, really hard to represent that community and honour that community. And I think he did a fantastic job,” Thurber said.