Dwayne Johnson surprises his cousin and stunt double, Tanoai Reed, with a new truck
Dwayne Johnson may have scaled the peaks of superstardom with his blockbusters but a generous heart still beats within The Rock. As was evident when the actor gifted his stunt double with a new custom pickup truck.
In a video posted on Instagram, the wrestler-turned-actor, and his stunt double Tanoai Reed initially start off chatting in front of the camera when a truck pulls up in the background. Reed, who had initially started off as a professional football player for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, has been performing stunts for Johnson for almost 16 years.
Although Reed has performed stunts for several movies like 'The Avenger' and 'Star Trek Into Darkness' being Johnson's double seemed to have been the most fruitful for him, and he has worked with him in several movies since 2002's 'The Scorpion King'.
Surprisingly, when Tanoai Reed and Dwayne Johnson met on the sets of 'The Scorpion King', they discovered that they were both related through their great-grandfather. Performing stunts for Johnson in his action packed movies has posed several risks for Reed, who even broke is wrist during the shoot of 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'.
Dwayne in a lengthy post on Instagram mentioned, "Over the course of my career, my stunt double (and cousin) Tanoai Reed @samoanstuntmanhas broken multiple bones, severed tendons, torn ligaments & just been an overall dominating badass achieving several “Stuntman of the Year” honors."
Both Dwayne and Reed refer to the memory of working together in 'The Scorpion King' in the video, where Dwayne mentions, "When I saw him, I was like Oh my God! Looks like my twin." After thanking Reed for all his hard work Johnson handed over the keys to Reed who seemed absolutely overwhelmed by the surprise.
Reed too has always been appreciative of Johnson's encouragement. In an interview with Mel Magazine, he said, "DJ gives me credit more than any other actor gives his stuntman...He’s always been like, ‘When it comes to the gnarly stuff, things where I can get hurt, my cousin Tanoai does it all.’ I’ll be reading a random article about a movie and bang — my name’s in there. He’s that kind of guy.”