Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie’s new film will be a strange Christmas story

For Lizard Music, The Rock endured 5 hours of makeup every day to put himself in the shoes of a 70-year-old man nicknamed “The Chicken Man”…

“Imagine Willy Wonka but seen through the mind of Benny Safdie…”

After having digested the failure of Smashing Machineshunned by the public and the Oscars despite his Silver Lion in Venice, Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie returned to the sets this summer for a new collaboration. A very surprising project, which the star described last August on the sidelines of D23.

Deadline reveals today that it will be released in theaters on December 25, 2027 (in the United States), distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. Adapted from the children’s novel of the same name by Daniel Pinkwater, Lizard Music is therefore positioned as a Christmas film, and the story promises a true fantastic and family tale, albeit unconventional.

“I play a septuagenarian”, detailed The Rock when filming had just started. “I didn’t know what that meant so I had to Google it. That means you are in your 70s. So, you have to transform yourself, 5 hours of makeup a day. We work with Kazu Hiro, a legend in Hollywood. He was nominated for an Oscar for the prosthetics I wore on Smashing Machineand it helps me transform myself.”

According to the elements of the synopsis revealed by Deadline, Lizard Music follows a boy (played by 10-year-old actor Theo Clark Leber), who “stumbles upon a broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, and a hidden door to the extraordinary opens. His search for answers leads him to an eccentric and whimsical old man nicknamed The Chicken Man and his beloved companion, an 85-year-old hen named Claudia…”

If Dwayne Johnson will star in the new Jumanji at the end of the year, this offbeat project confirms his desire to continue taking risks in his choice of roles, even if it means failing at the box office. Still during D23, he explained as follows:

“This is the kind of challenge I want to tackle. I love Benny, he’s one of my best friends and one of my collaborators, so I can’t wait for you to see this”.

No images of the film have circulated but according to this Instagram post from Benny Safdie, filming, which took place in Atlanta, seems to be finished.

Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, Arya Parvathi, Regina Hall, Colman Domingo, Jeff Goldblum, Rachel McAdams, Andrew Dice Clay and David Krumholtz complete the cast.