World Premiere Of Disney's "Jungle Cruise" - Arrivals© GettyImages

Dwayne Johnson gushes over his ‘Jungle Cruise’ co-star Emily Blunt

“I’m proud of her”


JULY 29, 2021 4:15 PM EDT

 Dwayne Johnson  cannot stop bragging about his Jungle Cruise co-star.

Knowing how much The Rock works out, you might be surprised to hear him say that Emily Blunt is just as much of a beast in the gym as he is.

“She kicks a**,” Johnson told E! News’ Daily Pop correspondent Victor Cruz on Thursday, July 29. “I’m proud of her.”

During the interview, Blunt joked that she was adamant about crashing Johnson’s gym time in his “cathedral-like, serene” fitness center.

“I didn’t really give him much option to say no,” she said. “But I was allowed in the gym and I will say, it was really beautiful.”

Even though the Jungle Cruise co-stars do share a kiss on-screen, it’s safe to say the actress isn’t playing the typical girlfriend sidekick role.

“It‘s a true two-hander,” Blunt revealed. ”That’s what I sort of loved about it. Even when I got sent the script, they were like, ’She’s Indiana Jones,’ and I was like, ‘It’s going to be the girlfriend role.’ But it really is this clash of two wildly different people who are confined in a boat, and the dynamic was so endlessly entertaining and funny in this rip-roaring adventure.”

She went on to say, “She’s the one swinging around and doing all this cool stuff.”

When asked by Cruz who the real star of Jungle Cruise is, Johnson doesn’t hesitate before pointing to his co-star and proclaiming, “Emily Blunt!”

While she laughs at his eagerness to hype her up, the actress is quick to correct him, saying, “No, there is no real star.”

As a producer on the film, Dwayne actually made a personal video and sent letters from Disney executives to convince Emily Blunt to make the film, which she jokingly referred to as “stalker-ish” in an interview with USA Today.

It was only borderline stalker-ish. I’m going to get arrested,” Johnson quipped. “Chris Hansen is waiting outside.”

“The Catch a Predator host? Seriously?” Blunt asked. “But really it was the script. That’s all I needed.”

Johnson went on to say, “Jaume Collet-Serra flew to Brooklyn to hand-deliver the script. And I said to him, show her this video I made. I can be very charming when I want to be. “

That’s when Emily interrupted him to say, “Your video didn’t do anything. It made me want to run.”

Jungle Cruise hits theaters on July 30.