Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is looking almost unrecognizable again for his next big movie role. More than a year after Lizard Music was first announced, production is now underway, and new photos from the set show Johnson completely transformed into the 70-year-old Chicken Man.
According to Variety, filming on Benny Safdie’s upcoming movie had been taking place for several weeks at Trilith Studios outside Atlanta. The production now appears to have moved to New York, where new set photos surfaced through Getty Images on October 20.
The photos offer the first real look at Johnson in character, and it’s definitely not the version of The Rock fans are used to seeing. Johnson has been aged up considerably for the role, sporting a tan bucket hat and coat while casually walking around with a slice of pizza in his hand.
Johnson was also photographed alongside his young co-star Theo Clark Leber. Leber could be seen carrying a massive lizard plush as the two filmed scenes together, giving fans an early glimpse at just how strange Lizard Music is going to get.
The man responsible for Johnson’s dramatic transformation is acclaimed prosthetic makeup artist Kazu Hiro. Hiro recently transformed Tom Cruise into an elderly oil baron for Digger, and now he’s giving Johnson an entirely different look as the 70-year-old Chicken Man.
The new photos come more than a year after Johnson and Safdie were first reported to be reuniting following The Smashing Machine. Safdie is writing and directing Lizard Music, while Johnson is also producing through Seven Bucks Productions alongside Safdie’s Down for the Count Productions and David Koplan.
The movie is based on Daniel Pinkwater’s novel and follows a young boy who discovers a bizarre late-night broadcast featuring lizards playing music. That eventually brings him into the orbit of Chicken Man and his 70-year-old chicken companion, Claudia, sending them into an increasingly strange adventure.
Johnson playing Chicken Man marks another major departure from the action-heavy roles that defined much of his Hollywood career. His transformation into Mark Kerr for The Smashing Machine already showed a very different side of him, and now he’s once again leaning heavily into prosthetics for an even stranger character.
Fans won’t be seeing the finished product anytime soon, though. Lizard Music is currently slated to hit theaters on December 25, 2027, so there’s still more than a year to go before Johnson’s Chicken Man makes it to the big screen.
The Rock has spent decades being one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, but that clearly isn’t stopping him from disappearing into his latest characters. Between the aging makeup, bucket hat and slice of pizza, these first Lizard Music photos might be one of his wildest transformations yet.
What do you think about The Rock’s dramatic transformation into the 70-year-old Chicken Man for Lizard Music? Let us know in the comments below.
