Young Rock films at Brisbane’s heritage Queensland Art Gallery

Work on the Young Rock TV series is continuing apace, with several locations in Greater Brisbane doubling for 1980s-’90s US places.

A heritage Brisbane building looks set to double for an American university campus in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Young Rock.

Filming for the NBC series about the formative years of the world’s highest-paid actor was under way yesterday outside the Queensland Art Gallery, which has been a jewel in South Bank’s crown since 1982.

A large group of extras in retro clothes passed as students at the University of Miami, which Johnson attended in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Actor Dominic Goodman on the set of Young Rock outside the Queensland Art Gallery, South Bank, yesterday. Picture: Steve Pohlner

American actor Dominic Goodman, whose role is yet to be announced, was filming a scene during which he ran down the building, through a marching band playing brass instruments, jumped through a garden bed and crouched down behind it.

The series has been filming at Screen Queensland Studios and on location around southeast Queensland since October, and will air on NBC’s platforms across the US from February 15.

During that time a Strathpine restaurant became a retro pizza joint, a waterfront Scarborough restaurant became a 1980s Hawaiian venue called “Lorenzo’s”, Wynnum’s Sports Karate Australia was transformed into a 1980s bodybuilding gym called “Sweat Temple” and Wicked Brew Coffee in Capalaba was used to recreate 1980s Nashville.

Young Rock extras at The Queensland Art Gallery, which is doubling for the University of Miami. Picture: Steve Pohlner

A retro party scene was filmed at the former Golden Door Spa and Health Club at Main Beach on the Gold Coast, where they also used Marina Mirage shopping centre.

The Tackle Warehouse in Camp Hill, a family-owned Brisbane tackle retailer for the past 20 years and formerly a Story Bridge toll booth, was also used for filming, while a nearby bricked apartment block doubled for the early 1980s.

Johnson shared the first trailer for the series on his social media accounts at the weekend, which has already notched up 12.1 million views on his Instagram alone.

Filming of Young Rock at Strathpine. Picture: Annette Dew

“I can’t wait to make you and your families laugh a little and share some life lessons I’ve learned along the way,” he wrote.

Despite not travelling to Brisbane, Johnson, who is also among the show’s executive producers, will appear in every episode.

Three actors — Bradley Constant, Adrian Groulx and Australia’s Uli Latukefu — are portraying the global superstar throughout the years.

Young Rock is the first of three NBC Universal series that will film in Brisbane across 18 months as part of a $19.5 million deal with the Federal Government worth $140 million to the local economy.

Joe Exotic starring Kate McKinnon is set to take over after Young Rock wraps in February.

A Young Rock scene at Wynnum. Picture: Nigel Wesley

A Capalaba coffee shop is transformed for Young Rock filming.

Originally published as Young Rock films at Brisbane’s heritage Queensland Art Gallery