What It’s Like To Work With The Rock, According To Zac Efron

Baywatch Dwayne The Rock Johnson Zac Efron March

While there are certainly larger men than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, not all of them work in such a personality intensive profession as acting. Yet despite his intimidating stature, he's apparently a joy to work with. Just ask his Baywatch co-star Zac Efron, as he's the latest actor to work with the former pro-wrestler and all around action bad ass. As it turns out, Efron had a great time working with the wrestler-turned-actor, and recently had the opportunity to discuss why it was that he loved working with him.

While talking about his work with Dwayne Johnson and their mutual experience on Seth Gordon's soon-to-be-released summer blockbuster in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Zac Efron couldn't help but gush about his Baywatch co-star. Specifically, he had the following praise to issue on his behalf,

You know, what's funny is we're clearly very different. He's a funny dude. He's always expanding, and he just gets better as he goes, like a flower that never stops blooming. It was fun to get in and really juke and jive with a guy who's twice my size and has zero fear.

The big difference we assume that Zac Efron is talking to about is the fact that when it comes to Baywatch, there's a clear delineation between the characters of Efron's Matt Brody and Dwayne Johnnson's Mitch Buchanan. While Brody is a hot shot who is all talk and no substance, Buchanan is the real deal action hero of the pair. They are also quite different in size, as you may have noticed, but one thing that they share in common is that both actors are currently in the midst of the biggest boom of their individual careers.

It's clear that the student is very much learning from the master here, and in the case of Zac Efron, he picked a pretty good teacher to learn from. Just looking at the trailers for Baywatch, you can see that Dwayne Johnson's comedic and action chops have influenced Efron to step up his game when it comes to both areas. With his individual career going through some growing pains itself, a hit like Baywatch, and a co-worker like Johnson are just what an actor needs to help boost their game.

While Zac Efron is easy to praise Dwayne Johnnson for his Baywatch performance, he is doing quite well for himself. His own talents have grown in leaps and bounds in recent years, and sure enough he too looks to be growing into an ever-blooming flower. We'll see how much he's grown as a big screen star soon, as Baywatch will arrive in theaters all over on May 2nd. Efron will then go on to impress audiences with his song and dance skills against Hugh Jackman The Greatest Showman this Christmas.

Mike Reyes
Senior Movies Contributor

Mike Reyes is the Senior Movie Contributor at CinemaBlend, though that title’s more of a guideline really. Passionate about entertainment since grade school, the movies have always held a special place in his life, which explains his current occupation. Mike graduated from Drew University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, but swore off of running for public office a long time ago. Mike's expertise ranges from James Bond to everything Alita, making for a brilliantly eclectic resume. He fights for the user.