Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson asks museum to update his wax figure: "Starting with my skin color"

Dwayne The Rock Johnson, who starred in the Fast and Furious movies as well as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, has asked the Grévin Museum in Paris (France) to modify his wax figure due to various inaccuracies in his physique, such as his skin color.

"For the record, I’m going to have my team reach out to our friends at Grevin Museum, in Paris France, so we can work at “updating” my wax figure here with some important details and improvements- starting with my skin color. And next time I’m in Paris, I’ll stop in and have a drink with myself," the actor wrote on his Instagram profile.

The actor posted a video of comedian James Andre Jefferson Jr. criticizing the figure. "I knew my boy James Andre Jefferson Jr. had this Rock wax statue in his roasting crosshairs. Is this how y’all felt when you lost the Little Mermaid?" he added.

"Create a statue as close to reality as possible"

The museum justified its work by saying that they had to resort to photos and videos of The Rock to "create a statue as close to reality as possible, without the presence of the international star." They hired a person with a physique similar to that of the actor to be able to make the figure.

For sculptor Stéphane Barret, the most complex part was his face because she used a sample photo in which The Rock had "a very slight smile on his face, an expression that's quite difficult to achieve." She also said getting his Samoan tattoos right was a difficult task. It took "ten days of painstaking work" for the painters, according to the museum.

On its Instagram profile, the Grévin Museum confirmed that they are already working to improve the figure of The Rock.

*Update

Faced with the controversy following The Rock's reaction, the Grévin Museum quickly tried to fix the issue. A spokesman for the French museum admitted on behalf of the institution that there were inaccuracies in Dwayne Johnson’s sculpture.

In a matter of 24 hours, the wax sculpture was updated. They darkened its skin to be more faithful to actor’s true skin color. Museum spokespeople said that when they made the sculpture, they did not have Dwayne Johnson there in person to compare. Instead, they based the sculpture off of some photographs, which caused them to make a mistake with his skin tone.

"Pictures can be very tricky because the nuances of skin tones can differ depending on the lighting on photos,” explained Véronique Berecz, spokeswoman for the Musée Grévin. “Every time, the sculptor has to determine the exact face and body shapes, the volumes and it’s always a very complicated challenge if we haven’t met the person.”