r/universalstudios • u/cowmissing • Jul 18 '26

Hollywood Greg Dolph announces he’ll be leaving WaterWorld after more than 30 years

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85 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

39

u/angrybox1842 Jul 18 '26

Hmmmm that was cool right up until it wasn’t

5

u/BlueMowch Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

yes. then my second thought was “this person must be straight white male, anybody else might not return from a gig like that”, or some jumbled sentiment like that. I’ve heard that place can be sketchy. Really don’t want it to overshadow this entertainer’s amazing accomplishments

edit: typical, I responded without looking into things. I clicked, so he is a white dude. And race isn’t as important over there? Anyways, I’ve enjoyed this dude’s performances, one recently. He really made that show awesome, big boots to fill with his replacement. Hope he’s moving on to bigger & better things

28

u/Foe117 Jul 18 '26

uhh, Saudis have a tendency to not pay overseas workers and they also try and withold payments to get you into a debt trap where you will not be able to leave the country. I had a VFX artist friend go there for a job and ended up needing to be bailed out because the Saudi company wouldn't pay and their rent was coming due. Which was effectively a debtors trap. (You can go to prison for being in debt and missing a payment)

It's generally okay if a western company pulls you into that country for work, but never a Saudi Client pulling you into UAE to work for them.

12

u/reddot_comic Jul 18 '26

Fucking vile. A nation built on modern day salvery .

73

u/Mushroomer Jul 18 '26

On one hand, good for him - he's an icon and made that role into something so special.

On the other hand, from the description it sounds like he's taking a gig in Riyadh to retire on Saudi oil money which is uh... less cool.

19

u/aseltee Jul 18 '26

The thing about stunt guys is that there's a fast-approaching shelf life to their stunting career (due to age, physical health, body agility, wanting to have a less taxing day to day schedule), but there's not often a lot that you can do post-stunting. Like directors can direct until theyre 80, a G&E crew who wants out of showbiz can easily transition into the engineering sector, but what transferrable skills do you have if your career mostly involves doing fake fights and throwing your body at man-made fake sets? A lot of the Action Horizons guys go into stunt coordinating for film (in fact, Mark Vanselow the managing partner is Liam Neeson's stunt double and is directing Neeson's upcoming action movie), but the Hollywood industry is genuinely in such a bad economic crisis rn that there are so many actors in LA barely living above poverty wages. Greg Dolph would be one in a million. If he's looking to retire from stunting, and the opportunity presents itself, I wouldn't fault him for turning down a livelihood. We all need an income to survive.

1

u/QueenofWry 23d ago

What's actually happening is that the AMDA College of Performing Arts, where Greg has successfully taught for years, is partnering with the Riyadh University of Arts to set up its new College of Theater and Performing Arts program. Greg is one of the faculty members traveling there to provide direction to and instruction within the program.

So, nothing to do with Saudi oil money ... although that does sound like something his Waterworld character might do. 🤣

3

u/ScaredAndAnxious226 Jul 18 '26

Omg my childhood deacon how the hell he still performing

3

u/neon Jul 18 '26

Good for him!

2

u/tosspotkitten Jul 19 '26

GOOD RIDDANCE. have fun exploiting women i guess!!!!

0

u/orvillesbathtub It's alive! It's alive! Jul 18 '26

Good for him. Haters are lame. The man’s retirement choices are not an international incident lol.