- Content: 
Add Movieguide® as preferred on Google
By Movieguide® Staff
Dwayne Johnson wants to keep his eyes on stories, not the political shouting match that often surrounds Hollywood.
“What I have learned through experience is that I need to keep — need, not want — the main thing the main thing,” Johnson said, according to Fox News, while discussing his recent Esquire cover story. “And the main thing for me, the thing that in the morning I swing my legs out of bed and I run towards, is creating. It’s art. It’s storytelling.”
Johnson’s comments matter because he remains one of Hollywood’s most visible family-entertainment stars. Movieguide® has reviewed several of his projects, including Disney’s animated MOANA and the adventure comedy JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL.
The actor told Esquire he has learned to keep his politics private, even though public life constantly pulls celebrities toward public declarations. He said politics feels “omnipresent” and admitted, “I hate the slinging. I hate all the b**** that comes with it.”
Johnson did not present silence as fear. Instead, he framed it as a choice to focus on creative work and leave some convictions between himself and the ballot box.
Fox News noted that Johnson endorsed former President Joe Biden in 2020 but later said he would not endorse a presidential candidate in 2024. Johnson told FOX & FRIENDS host Will Cain that his 2020 endorsement created division that still “tears me up in my guts.”
Related: Dwayne Johnson Calls Being a Dad ‘The Greatest Thing Ever’
“I wouldn’t do that because my goal is to bring our country together,” Johnson said at the time. “I believe in that, in my DNA. So in the spirit of that, there’s going to be no endorsement.”
That posture may surprise audiences used to celebrities treating politics as part of the job description. It also reflects a weariness many families feel when entertainment spaces become another arena for cultural combat.
Johnson has not stopped giving direct answers. In the same Fox News piece, he criticized cancel-culture pressure and said truthful answers matter even when they upset people.
For Movieguide® readers, Johnson’s comments underline a larger point about the purpose of storytelling. Hollywood serves families best when artists put character, courage, sacrifice and wonder ahead of applause from political tribes.
That does not mean artists must avoid every serious issue. Good stories can wrestle with justice, mercy, duty and truth, but they lose power when creators treat audiences as opponents to lecture instead of neighbors to serve.
Johnson’s own career has often leaned on broad, crowd-pleasing projects that invite parents and children into the same room. That reach gives his comments extra weight because he knows what it means to speak to people who do not vote, worship or think exactly alike.
His comments also arrive as audiences increasingly ask whether celebrity politics improve the stories they came to enjoy. Johnson’s answer, at least for now, is to put the work first.
Johnson still chooses his roles and public voice inside an industry full of competing pressures. But his insistence that creating and storytelling remain “the main thing” gives families a welcome reminder: entertainment can bring people together when it stops treating division as the point.
Read Next: Dwayne Johnson Calls Daughters ‘My Greatest’ Inspiration, Joy
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
Add Movieguide® as preferred on GoogleShare:
- Content: +2
- Content: +1