The Musée Grévin in France fixed Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's botched wax sculpture after hearing his complaints and seeing the backlash on social media. Within 24 hours, artists had given the figure a fresher look by painting a darker complexion with great care.
In a report by Variety, museum public relations director Veronique Berecz claimed the wrestler-turned-actor's response to being told his body was too white was "friendly." Berecz has spent the better part of four decades working on wax replicas of famous people, including Michael Jackson, Nicolas Cage, and Donald Sutherland, at the museum.
Challenges in Artists' Part
The artists were unable to meet Johnson in person, so they had to rely on images instead. It turned out that photos can be rather challenging since subtle differences in skin tones might appear depending on the lighting.
"Every time, the sculptor has to determine the exact face and body shapes, the volumes, and it's always a very complicated challenge if we haven't met the person," Berecz explained. She said that the museum was compelled to take extra precautions with Johnson's statue right from the start.
Berecz and the team did a casting of models based on Johnson's dimensions. She pointed out how challenging that task was since they needed to find a guy around the same height as the actor, about 6'5", and had the same kind of massive muscles. Berecz said they discovered the model in a bodybuilding club.
When asked about claims that the museum was whitewashing Johnson's image, she said the idea had never occurred to anybody working there. She said that the confusion was due to an honest mistake in the photographs they had seen. "After we saw all these reactions on different blogs and social networks, we changed it immediately."
Wrong Skin Tone
In honor of Johnson's overwhelming victory at the first-ever Grévin Awards, the museum debuted a wax replica of the Jumanji star a week ago. The winner is decided by a public vote for their favorite pop culture figure to be cast in wax at the museum.
According to Today, however, Johnson's supporters were outraged by the wax figure because of its fair complexion and resemblance to Mr. Clean.
Johnson shared a video posted by comedian James Andre Jefferson Jr. on Instagram in which Jefferson Jr. compared Johnson to David Beckham. "It looks like 'The Rock' has never seen the sun a day in his life ... It looks like 'The Rock' is going to be a part of the royal family. Did y'all even Google him?" Jefferson Jr. said in the posted video.
In addition to sharing Jefferson Jr.'s video on Instagram, Johnson requested that the museum update his wax figure by improving some aspects of it, beginning with the skin color. The Black Adam actor also said his team would be reaching out to the Paris museum.
