The Rock Flew A Melb Artist To NYC So She Could Give Him A Portrait & That’s True Career Goals

A Melbourne artist has revealed the backstory of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson flying her out to a movie premiere so she could present him with a portrait she painted of him. That’s certainly a great dinner party tale.

Johnson asked Danielle Weber to paint a portrait of him as the superhero Black Adam back in January. He’s starring as the superhero in a flick called, surprise surprise, Black Adam.

According to Weber, Johnson then asked her to present him with the painting at the New York premiere of the film in October.

“I have a big idea. I’m thinking you present this to me on the black carpet at our world premiere in New York,” Mr The Rock said to Weber in an Insta DM, per News.com.au.

“It’s a massive moment we can create together. What do you think…”

He signed off the message with a lightning bolt emoji. Love it.

Weber had actually met Johnson back in 2015 when she presented him with a portrait of him and his mum. Aw. She painted the pic after he reached out to her on FB to compliment her art. The two have since remained in contact — quite a rogue celebrity bestie but I respect it nonetheless.

In a recent Instagram video, Weber shared the process of creating the piece — which she did in the space of a week. I’m still getting through the paint-by-numbers set I bought in lockdown last year, so this speed is very impressive to me.

“A piece of this size and detail usually taking months, I painted it in 100 hours over six days and didn’t complete it until the night before my 7am flight to America!” she wrote in her caption.

Speaking to News.com.au, Weber said it was a bit stressful as she didn’t have flights, an outfit, or a painting when The Rock asked her to come to NYC. But she works “best under pressure”. Thank God.

She also said it was important to Johnson for the portrait to include Egyptian hieroglyphics due to their relevance to the character’s backstory.

He said it had to be front on, head must be down and we also spoke about the hieroglyphics in the costume – every single etching has a meaning of Egyptian history,” Weber said.

The stress and attention to detail clearly paid off in the end.

From the sounds of it, the premiere was pretty incredible.

There were thousands of people in Times Square that night and the energy on the Black Carpet was equally electric, inspiring and unforgettable,” Weber said, per Zinc 96.1.

“To witness DJ’s reaction, gratitude and excitement when seeing the piece for the first time was truly an incredible experience and one I will never forget.”

Clearly the key to nabbing yourself a celebrity BFF is developing a second-to-none talent. Sadly, I don’t think my prowess at guessing celeb star signs is going to cut it with Dwayne (he’s a Taurus, BTW).

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