Two best friends took awkward photo shoot trend to a whole new level in the now viral TikTok channel with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in '90s style.
Decade-long friends Elliot Richards and Travis Gregory have noticed that a once common tradition has once again become a social media sensation, with people getting nostalgic by having elaborate photo shoots with friends and family in professional studios such as J.C. Penney.
“I've always been a big fan of funny photos like this,” Gregory tells TODAY.com. “People like them, you know, it shows a different side of you. It's great.”
Richards says they knew they had to be involved.
“So I thought, 'We have to do this.' We have to try,” Richards recalls.
Richards researched “explicit photos of JCPenny” on Google Maps, which led him to Photograph of Mona Lisa in Sterling, Virginia. He made an appointment the next day with the owner Hamza Yildirim.
When considering what to wear for the shoot, Gregory immediately thought of Johnson.
“The first thing that came to mind was The Rock,” Gregory shares, saying he's a “huge” fan of the “greatest actor of all time.”
He remembers thinking about Johnson's iconic '90s look, where the famous wrestler wears a long-sleeved black turtleneck and a silver chain necklace, paired with jeans, a black belt and a fanny pack.
“Everyone knows this photo, it’s so perfect, let’s get an outfit,” Gregory recalls.
Johnson recreated the look in 2017 when he shared a post alongside the original outfit. In the caption, he talked about the hardships he had to endure to get to where he is now.
“If you're going through your tough times, the used-mattress stage, do your best to have faith that things will get better, and always be ready to outperform your competition because you never know where life will take you,” Johnson wrote at the time.
Gregory and Richards perfectly replicated Johnson's outfit and even posed with the same bend over and grip on their fanny packs.
During an hour-long photo shoot, Gregory's wife Sherin Reedshot content and helped them create poses. She was the one who edited and uploaded the video to TikTok, jokingly sharing behind-the-scenes footage and professional photos. But the response proved there was more to it than that.
The clip, which was posted on September 16, now has over 8 million views and over 956,000 likes.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” Richards says of the viral reaction.
“It kind of went through the roof… it was kind of surreal,” Gregory adds.
But did Johnson himself see this tribute?
As far as the duo are not yet best friends, Gregory says it would be “cute” if Johnson saw their videos on social media.
Gregory, Richards and Reed called Yildirim after the video went viral.
“As soon as they call me, my hair just stands on end… I don’t know what to say,” says Yildirim.
The best friends have since done another retro photoshoot in colorful '90s jumpsuits, which they shared on Tik Tok video September 24.
“I love how the jumpsuit looks old school, like Russian mafia, look, Goofy,” Richards said. “So we did both, and people seem to like the first one better, at least for now.”
Their second attempt still racked up more than 877,000 views – and this may just be the beginning of an era for their photo shoots.
“It’s fun and people seem to enjoy it,” Richards said. “We're doing this for ourselves first and foremost. We didn't have the intention of 'we're going to go viral'.”
