All aboard the virtual press conference for Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE!

Desde Hollywood was invited to participate in a lively conversation with the film’s stars: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Édgar Ramírez, and Jack Whitehall.

Read below some of the most fun and interesting things that they shared with journalists in attendance.

JUNGLE CRUISE is being released simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 30.

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt on how Johnson tried to convince her to get on the project

Johnson: “Our director, Jaume Collet-Serra, was flying to New York to meet Emily to hand deliver the Jungle Cruise script. Before he went, I said, ‘Listen, I’m gonna send you a video. Just give it to her, from me.’ I said, ‘Emily, you are the only one who can do this movie.’”
Blunt: “I was very touched. I really loved it! I knew when we met, we had this rapport that ping-ponged back and forth so quickly. I thought, ‘This is going to be fun.’”

Emily Blunt on the most difficult stunt to get right:

“The vine swing, for me, was the most challenging because [Johnson] would not let me get one straight take! He pushed it so far—every time—to try and make me laugh on that vine swing. I was like, ‘Just tell me what you’re going to say this time so I can be prepared!’ And every time he’d throw in some awful improv that would make me laugh. I don’t know how many times we must have shot that.”

Jack Whitehall on his character, MacGregor, revealing he is gay during a moving scene:

“I think it was a scene that we really wanted to get right. What’s so great about this movie is that all of the characters feel so fleshed out. And all of them have interesting backstories, and they’re fully realized.”

Blunt and Ramírez on riding the Jungle Cruise ride for the first time at the movie’s premiere:

Blunt: “I loved it. I thought it was very whimsical and sweet, and I could see the elements from the ride that have made it into the film.”
Ramírez: “I loved it for the same reasons that Emily just described, because it was simple, it was cute, it was tender, and it was silly. The movie brings it to the next level. It has that delicious silliness that is so refreshing.”

Édgar Ramírez on his antagonistic character, Captain Aguirre:

“Is he a villain? He’s misunderstood. It comes from pain. I feel for him. You have all these fantastical elements, and that’s what I go to the movies for. I want to be disconnected from reality and go on a journey and be able to dream of fantastical places, and fantastical characters, and fantastical creatures. So, I’m very happy.”

JUNGLE CRUISE is being released simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 30.

Disney’s Jungle Cruise stars Johnson as Frank Wolff, a charismatic skipper and head of the Jungle Navigation Company; Blunt as Lily Houghton, a strong minded scientist and explorer; Ramírez as Captain Aguirre, fearsome leader of the cutthroat conquistadors; and Whitehall as MacGregor Houghton, a proper English gent who’s simply along for the ride.