Like To BeThe - Impeccable Dwayne Johnson Galleries

38
What’s It
Like To Be The
Latest
Actıon
Hero?
The Rock
WRITTEN BY LEAH SYDNEY
“It’s humbling to
be important—but
it’s more important
to be humble.”
¶ That’s this
week’s “rock-ism”
according to
Dwayne Johnson,
aka The Rock,
the ruggedly
handsome
former World
Wrestling
Entertainment
champion
who’s now a
Hollywood
heavyweight.
Noe DeWitt/Corbis Outline
biogr aphyclub.com
35
2000
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
36
Winter 2005
19XX
TITLEGOESHERE
1990
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
2001
OR AL HISTORY
THE MUMMY RETURNS
Dwayne Johnson
talks about being
The Rock.
Rock On
EDITED BY STEPHAN TALT Y
The Motel 6 life: “We did a lot of traveling.
The only time I got a chance to see my
father was when I’d go on the road with
him. We were like gypsies—like carnies.”
Love at first sight (of a flying drop-kick):
“When I was a kid I loved going to professional wrestling matches and watching
those characters. Man, I loved the bad
guys. And I would always play wrestling
with my friends.”
Trash-talking in second grade: “When I
was eight, I was telling guys, ‘Hey, you,
come close; I’m going to be all over you
like stink on an outhouse corncob, baby.’”
A detour into college football: “Without
football, I wasn’t going to college. I called
the University of Miami up myself and
Left to right: Neal Peters Collection; WWE/courtesy
Neal Peters Collection; Universal/courtesy Neal Peters Collection
ship and graduated with a degree in crimiJohnson, 32, stepped into the movie ring
nology. But in 1995, a shoulder injury cost
with his scene-stealing performance in 2001’s
him a place in the NFL. He then signed with
The Mummy Returns. The next year, he fola Canadian league. “I wound up at age 24 in
lowed up with The Scorpion King, for which
Canada, sleeping on a mattress I got out of a
he received 5.5 million dollars—the highest
dumpster because I couldn’t
salary for any actor receiving
afford to buy one,” he recalls.
top billing for the first time.
“When I was cut from the
The 6'4", 240-pound Johnson
league I had seven dollars in
has transcended the world of
my pocket. I had to move back
wrestling with his intelligence,
in with my parents.”
talent, and coolness factor.
Is he afraid of failure? “No.
He’s now a movie star, a role
I’ve failed so many times that
he takes seriously. “I’ve come
I’ve learned more from the
to realize that what best works
failures than the successes.
for my acting is to bring
Growing up, we struggled. I’d
energy and a truth to every
come home from school
part I play. John Travolta [his
seeing eviction notices on the
costar in the upcoming Be
door, our car repossessed. So I
Cool, in which Johnson plays a
count the blessings I have and
gay bodyguard who wants
I’m not afraid. When I swing,
to be a singer] told me to
I swing for the grand slam
remain truthful.”
every time. Sometimes I strike
Born in Hayward, Califorout and sometimes it goes out
nia, in 1972 to a Samoan mothof the park.”
er, Ata, and an African Ameri- THE ROCK GETS WAXED
The next swing he took was
can father, Rocky, Dwayne Immortalized at Madame
in 1996. That’s when he decidDouglas Johnson grew up in Tussauds in 2002
ed to follow in his father’s footthe small town of Bethlehem,
steps and pursue a career in wrestling, and
Pennsylvania. His dad, known professionally
the rest is Rock legend.
as Soulman, was pro wrestling’s first African
Part of that legend is his tattoos, which
American champ. Johnson’s parents recently
cover his body. “My tattoos are the story of
divorced after a long marriage. “It’s all okay
my life,” he says. “I have a Brahma bull’s head
now, we’re all happy, life is too short to be
on my upper right arm, and another one covunhappy,” Johnson says.
ers my left arm and goes down my back.
He and his wife of seven years, Dany, a
There’s a warrior—that’s me—telling the
financial planner, live outside Ft. Lauderdale,
story of my strength, power, loyalty, strugFlorida. Although the couple also owns a
gles, and successes. I’m extremely proud of
home in L.A., Johnson prefers the simple life.
it because in the Polynesian culture, tattoo“I love the fact that I live in a small country
ing is highly regarded.”
town where there’s a Burger King on one corSome consider Johnson to be the new
ner and Dunkin’ Donuts on the other. I’m
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Would he ever run
grounded there; it keeps me real.”
for political office? “I’d said on Ellen
Also keeping him real is three-year-old
DeGeneres’s show that I wouldn’t do it, and
Simone Alexandra Johnson. “She inspires me
my mom calls me right after and says, ‘You
and drives me more than any 20-million-dollar
know, you might be president one day; never
paycheck, an Oscar, or anything else that this
say never.’ And she’s right.”
world holds,” he says. “She’s changed my life.”
Putting it another way, he delivers one last
That life has had some bumps along the
rock-ism: “Don’t just eat the hole—eat the
way. A high school football star, Johnson
whole donut.”
attended the University of Miami on scholar-
said ‘Hey, this is Dwayne Johnson and I’ve
been recruited by every college across the
country. What’s the problem? I haven’t heard
from you guys.’”
The end of the dream: “I remember the play. I
was driven into the ground and I completely
dislocated my shoulder and tore all the
ligaments. And they said, ‘You need extensive shoulder surgery and you’re not going to
play this year. That’s it. You’re done.’ I went
into a complete depression.”
Memories of the Canadian Football League: “I
starved up in Calgary. I’ll never forget it. I
remember thinking, ‘I have to do something.’”
The dream, part 2: “I thought to myself, if I
don’t take a swing at wrestling, I’ll never live
my life the way I want to, and I’ll live with
regrets. And that is something I never, ever
wanted to do.”
Advice from the old man: “My dad was like,
‘Man, I want more for you than wrestling.
I was in the business for 20, 30 years and
all three of us are sitting in a little twobedroom apartment.’”
Who’s your granddaddy? “My grandfather
[the late High Chief Peter Maivia, known for
his long hair and tattoos over much of his
body] was a professional wrestler too. He was
the first Samoan professional wrestler to
really make it big time.”
The curtain rises: “They put me on TV the
very first night of my wrestling career, at the
Survivor Series in November of 1996. I’ll
never forget it. Of all places to make my
debut, it was at the mecca of sports arenas,
Madison Square Garden, right in the middle
of New York City. I made a great impact and
that night was the absolute best.”
Dating across the color line: “It wasn’t always
easy when I started to date Dany. Frankly, her
parents were against it...because of the color
of my skin. That’s just the way it was back
then.”
Wedding belle: “It was great. It was your
traditional Samoan-Cuban wedding. Dany
danced a Samoan dance, which was beautiful, and we all danced around her. It was a
great, great day.”
Rushing to the delivery room to meet baby
Simone: “I was working in Chicago. The live
show ended at 11 that night. I got on a plane.
biogr aphyclub.com
37
“It’s been hard work. Seven years ago,
Getting into character (in the weight room):
“My workouts vary depending on the role I
choose. For The Rundown, I thought my
character would be a little smaller than the
2002
THE SCORPION
KING
guy I played in The Mummy Returns. Here’s
a guy who’s on the run. He’s a bounty hunter.
He’s chasing people. He’s always on the go.
He’s a chef. He knows what foods are good,
what foods are not. For Walking Tall,
my character was fresh out of the Special Forces—so he would be really
svelte, if that’s the word.”
More on his Rundown role: “He gets
pushed to the limits so much that, at
2003
THE RUNDOWN
Clockwise from center: Universal/courtesy Neal Peters Collection; Columbia/courtesy
Neal Peters Collection; MGM/courtesy Neal Peters Collection; WWE/courtesy Neal Peters Collection
And I was at the hospital by 4.”
How he’ll deal with her future boyfriends: “I
can foresee the poor guy who’s going to date
her, his friends saying to him, ‘Dude, do you
know who her dad is?’ I figure I’ll only break
his arm at first.”
On the idea of going villain: “I said, ‘I love it.’
And the great thing about it was, nobody
expected my transformation into a bad guy.”
We created a monster: “I became The Rock,
the one-on-one, jet-flying, limousine-riding,
wheeling-dealing, kiss-stealing son of a gun.
Oh yeah, I was the trail-blazing, eyebrowraising, pie-eating, heart-stopping, elbowdropping, people’s champ known as The
Rock.”
The bad-guy patter. “I would tell the crowd,
‘Tonight it’s time for each and every single
piece of trailer-park trash to kiss The Rock—
if you smell what The Rock is.’”
Creative suggestion from Saturday Night Live:
“They said, ‘You want to play a monkey on
the show and hump somebody’s leg?’ I said,
‘Yeah, you bet.’”
One-on-one with fellow actor Michael Clarke
Duncan (his costar in The Scorpion King): “Did
Michael tell you? I cracked him in the jaw.
Did he say anything about me knocking
him out?”
I didn’t have anything.”
the end of the day, if you push him too far he’s
going to bite back. That was one of the elements I loved about the character. Not only
that, but here’s a guy who preferred not to use
guns. How often in movies today can we
find that?”
The quest for human perfection: “I have a
great trainer who’s able to scientifically make
up these diets for me. I become like the
human guinea pig.”
On his favorite junk food: “God bless Dunkin’
Donuts.”
The road to Rock-dom: “It’s been hard work.
Seven years ago, I didn’t have anything.”
Unfulfilled goal: “One thing I’ve never done
and want to do is to be on Oprah. She’s
incredible. My mom keeps telling me, ‘I’ll
write to her and tell her to put you on the
show. She listens to her viewers.’ I told her no,
that it was okay: ‘I’ll be on the show someday,
and when I do, you’ll meet her.’”
His formula for success: “Be focused. Keep
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ENTERTAINMENT
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Gridiron Gang
(coming soon)
Johnny Bravo
(coming soon)
Instant Karma
(coming soon)
Spy Hunter
(coming soon)
Doom (coming soon)
Be Cool (coming soon)
Walking Tall (2004)
WWE Wrestlemania
XX (2004)
WWE: Brock Lesnar:
Here Comes the Pain
(2003)
The Rundown (2003)
WWE Backlash (2003)
WWE No Way Out
(2003)
WWE Velocity (2002)
The Scorpion King
(2002)
Summerslam (2002)
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2004
WALKING TALL
38
Winter 2005
Family, Friends, and
Colleagues on The Rock
F. GARY GRAY, director of the Rock’s latest
movie, Be Cool: “He just kind of jumped off
the cliff with this character. You know what I
mean? The best actors do that. He had no
hang-ups about playing a gay man.”
JOHNNY KNOXVILLE: “He’s a really good kisser, really good. Great legs.”
WARREN SAPP, Friend and college football
teammate: “Your grandma, your momma,
your sister, everybody in the whole family will
love him. I mean, he’s the most likeable dude
you’d ever want to meet.”
MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN: “The guy has
charisma. He has good looks. He has a
chiseled body. He’s everything that an action
hero should be.”
ROCKY JOHNSON, father: “When he finally
made it, I wasn’t surprised. He made it a little
bit faster than I thought he would, but I knew
he had everything going for him. He had
charisma. He had razzmatazz. He had great
body language. He was a great talker. So I
knew that nothing was going to stop him.”
PETER BERG, director of The Rundown: “A lot of
actors talk about doing their own stunts and
some do to a degree, but in terms of his ability to fight and move, he’s just really agile and
in tremendous shape. You can ask him to do
things and he can physically move his body
in ways that most actors can’t.”
ATA JOHNSON, mother: “I would say the biggest
day in his life was the day he had his baby.”
DANY JOHNSON, wife: “A great father. A
great husband. He’s the type of guy who,
every night when he’s home and I’m slipping
into bed, he’s taking out his guitar and
singing to me. That’s classic. And is he the
husband with an incredible six-pack? Yes. I
say he’s the perfect husband.”
Film & Wrestling Credits
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driving and keep driving and eventually
something’s going to happen.”
■
WWE Vengeance
(2002)
WWE Wrestlemania
X-8 (2002)
King of the Ring
(2002)
WWF No Way Out
(2002)
Royal Rumble (2002)
WWF Vengeance
(2001)
Survivor Series (2001)
WWF Rebellion (2001)
WWF No Mercy
(2001)
WWF Unforgiven
(2001)
Summerslam (2001)
The Mummy Returns
(2001)
Wrestlemania
X-Seven (2001)
WWF No Way Out
(2001)
Royal Rumble (2001)
Longshot (2000)
Mick Foley: Hard
Knocks and Cheap
Pops (2000) (V)
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WWF Armageddon
(2000)
WWF Rebellion (2000)
Survivor Series (2000)
WWF No Mercy
(2000)
WWF Unforgiven
(2000)
Summerslam (2000)
Fully Loaded (2000)
King of the Ring
(2000)
WWF Judgment Day
(2000)
WWF Insurrextion
(2000)
WWF Backlash (2000)
Wrestlemania 2000
(2000)
No Way Out (2000)
Royal Rumble (2000)
Hell Yeah (1999)
Armageddon (1999)
Survivor Series (1999)
WWF No Mercy
(1999)
WWF Rebellion (1999)
WWF Unforgiven
(1999)
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Summerslam (1999)
Fully Loaded (1999)
King of the Ring
(1999)
WWF Backlash (1999)
Wrestlemania XV
(1999)
WWF St.Valentine’s
Day Massacre (1999)
Royal Rumble (1999)
WWF Capital
Carnage (1998)
WWF Rock Bottom:
In Your House (1998)
Survivor Series (1998)
WWF Judgment Day
(1998)
WWF Breakdown: In
Your House (1998)
WWF Mayhem In
Manchester (1998)
Summerslam (1998)
Fully Loaded (1998)
King of the Ring
(1998)
WWF Over the Edge
(1998)
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WWF Unforgiven
(1998)
Wrestlemania XIV
(1998)
No Way Out (1998)
Royal Rumble (1998)
WWF In Your House:
D-Generation-X
(1997)
Survivor Series (1997)
WWF In Your House:
Badd Blood (1997)
WWF In Your House: A
Cold Day In Hell
(1997)
WWF In Your House:
Revenge of the Taker
(1997)
Wrestlemania XIII
(1997)
WWF In Your House:
Final Four (1997)
Royal Rumble (1997)
WWF In Your House:
It’s Time (1996)
Survivor Series (1996)
(V)= video game
biogr aphyclub.com
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