New wax figure of Dwayne Johnson unveiled as Paris museum admits original was ‘whiter than it should have been’ and an ‘honest mistake’
France’s Musée Grévin recorded Dwayne Johnson’s comments and social media outcry over the star’s botched wax figure to heart. Within 24 hours, his figure was updated by artists who gave her a slightly darker skin tone with careful brushstrokes in oil painting. Johnson’s suburban dad outfit remains, however.
“We found his reaction to be quite friendly when he brought up the fact that his character was actually whiter than he should have been,” said Veronique Berecz, the museum’s public relations director, who has worked at the iconic museum for more than four decades and working closely with like-minded people from Michael Jackson, Nicolas Cage and Donald Sutherland on their respective wax figures.
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“Unfortunately we couldn’t meet Dwayne Johnson, so we used multiple photos – but as it turns out, pictures can be very difficult because the nuances of skin tones can vary depending on the lighting in the photos,” she said. “Each time the sculptor has to determine the exact face and body shape as well as the volumes, and it is always a very complicated challenge when we have not gotten to know the person.”
Berecz revealed that Johnson’s character required special treatment from the museum from the start. “We did a model casting based on his body measurements, and that was no small undertaking because we had to find a guy who had roughly the same body type as Dwayne Johnson – 6’5″ tall and those huge muscles. “ – and we found our role model in a bodybuilding club!” said Berecz.
When asked for her opinion on allegations that the museum had “whitewashed” Johnson’s figure, she said it had never occurred to anyone. “That has nothing to do with it – we just made an honest mistake based on the photos we looked at,” she said. “After seeing all these reactions on various blogs and social networks, we immediately changed it.”
Johnson’s wax figure made its debut at the Grévin Museum a week ago after the Fast & Furious actor won the inaugural Grévin Awards in a landslide. The award is voted on by fans who select their favorite pop culture icon for the museum to immortalize in wax.
But as reported by TodayThe light-skinned wax figure sparked uproar among Johnson’s fans and drew comparisons to Mr. Clean. It was only a video by comedian James Andre Jefferson Jr. in which he compared him to David Beckham that triggered a reaction from Johnson, who announced on Instagram that his team would contact the Paris museum.
“Do you know Black Ass Samoan The Rock? This is what Paris thinks he looks like,” Jefferson Jr. says in the video. “You turned The Rock into a pebble! …it looks like The Rock has never seen the sun in his life…You make the rock look like David Beckham. It looks like The Rock is becoming part of the royal family. Have you even googled him?”
Along with the re-release of Jefferson Jr.’s video. Johnson wrote on Instagram that he wanted Grévin to work on “updating” my wax figure here with some important details and improvements – starting with my skin color.” However, Johnson didn’t seem too upset about it and said that he would be in Paris the next time he was in Paris Museum would stop by for a drink.
Check out the updated version of Johnson’s image below.
Veronique Berecz repairs the outfit of Johnson’s wax figure at the Musée Grévin in Paris.
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