Rosamund Pike Originally Wasn’t Looking Forward to Working With Dwayne Johnson in ‘Doom’
Dwayne Johnson once teamed up with Rosamund Pike for the 2005 feature Doom. But with Johnson still being in the beginning stages of his career, Pike was prepared not to get along with her co-star.
Why Rosamund Pike didn’t look forward to acting alongside Dwayne Johnson
Pike wasn’t prepared to get the kind of co-star she got with The Rock on the set of Doom. The feature came out at a time when Johnson had gotten his footing in the industry. He had already starred in several films of varying success prior to Doom, including The Scorpion King and The Rundown.
Johnson decided to do the film because he was a fan of both the script and the video game it was based on. But he also thought, given the reputation of video game adaptations, it was an ambitious project.
“Frankly because the movies in the past that were adapted from video games have been ok,” Johnson once said according to Hollywood. “They’ve made a ton of money box office wise, but you walk away going, ‘That was all right.’ I remember calling Universal and saying, ‘We’ve got a shot if we stayed true to the game and remained unapologetic in our approach. When it’s time to blow demons away, to blow them away.’”
When Johnson came on board, however, Pike had negative preconceived notions about the blockbuster star. But she shared her initial opinion of Johnson couldn’t have been further off the mark.
“I saw this guy and I thought he was going to take himself incredibly seriously. I thought he was going to be just the kind of man I wouldn’t like,” she said. “Then he turned out to be someone who doesn’t take himself seriously at all. He’s funny and self-ironizing. He takes a piss at everyone and himself. I like that a lot.”
Rosamund Pike was surprised that Dwayne Johnson tweeted about her movie 15 years later
Since their Doom days, Pike and Johnson have both gone on to have successful but different careers. Still, Johnson took the time to give a shout-out to one of Pike’s films. Given how much his star-power has grown over the years, both Pike and the film’s director were very appreciative of Johnson’s support.
“When my film A Private War came out, I didn’t do any social media, but [director] Matthew Heineman said, ‘Oh my God, The Rock has just tweeted about our movie. He’s written, My good bud, Rosamund Pike – check out this movie!’ And I was like, ‘My God, that’s so nice, 15 years on or something.’ He’s a very good guy,” Pike once told Total Film.
Pike also confided that she wouldn’t have guessed Johnson was going to become the blockbuster superstar he is today when first working with him.
“Dwayne was right at the beginning of everything – knowing where he was going, but I guess none of us knew where he was going,” she said.
Rosamund Pike and Dwayne Johnson both have similar opinions toward ‘Doom’
Doom might not have lived up to the expectations that both Pike and Johnson had for the feature. The Gone Girl star had certain regrets regarding the film that she confided to Collider about in a 2021 interview.
“I wasn’t a gamer. I didn’t understand. If I knew what I knew now, I would have dived right into all of that and got fully immersed in it like I do now,” she said. “And I just didn’t understand. I feel embarrassed, really. I feel embarrassed that I was sort of ignorant of what it meant and I didn’t know how to go about finding out because the internet wasn’t the place it is now for the fans to speak up.”
Meanwhile, Johnson once acknowledged that the film might have been a bit of a disappointment. But he hoped his other video game-based film Rampage would succeed where Doom might have failed.
“Wow! Very cool RAMPAGE news! Not pointing to the scoreboard yet, but it seems we may have finally broken the dreaded video game curse. And remember, I starred in the stinker Doom so I have lived thy curse,” Johnson once tweeted.
