One major Hollywood star was so star struck by Clint Eastwood, that he couldn’t speak to him when he saw him at the Oscars, and then sent him fan mail instead.
There can’t be many people that Dwayne Johnson is still star-struck by, now that he’s one of the biggest movie stars and producers on the planet. And let’s not forget that he was already famous as wrestler The Rock before he even transitioned to Hollywood. But there’s one movie legend that Johnson is so in awe of, he couldn’t speak to him when they saw each other at the Oscars in 2013.
And the actor who is the biggest inspiration to Johnson, so much so, he is his number one ‘man crush’ is Clint Eastwood. According to Contact Music, Johnson said; “Clint has always been an inspiration of mine. As a matter of fact, Clint has always been my inspiration as an actor… With Clint, not only has he been my inspiration, (but he’s) my one and only man crush…”
“We were at the Oscars and I was doing red carpet and when I was done with an interview, I turn around and there he is, he’s walking in with his wife… I was like, ‘Oh man, this is it!’ And then I froze. I completely froze. I couldn’t pull the trigger… I looked at his wife; she smiled, I smiled at her… I didn’t meet him.”
Johnson then decided to write Eastwood a note to let him know how much of a fan he is of the iconic star of some of the best detective movies – the Dirty Harry series. He explained; “I wrote him a letter recently… He’s been such an inspiration to me (and) I just wanted to take the time to write him a letter… I know that he received it, and in the letter it wasn’t, ‘Hey, here’s my number, please call me’, it was, ‘I want you to know that you’re my inspiration’, that was it.” We hope that Johnson made sure to mention the man crush thing too.
Eastwood isn’t necessarily the most obvious choice as Johnson’s main movie inspiration, as he’s primarily known for his Westerns and becoming a prestigious Oscar-winning director. Johnson does do producing work behind the scenes, but hasn’t yet turned his hand to directing. His preferred genre in the last decade has become the family-friendly adventure movie – such as Jumanji and Jungle Cruise.