Sports fans know that Dwayne Johnson could hurl a man twice his size (all of 6’4") across the ring as if he was just flicking a cigaret butt. As a wrestler, Dwayne was so invincible that he was called The Rock.
Movie fans are giving The Rock a big nod as an actor after he has shown his comedic talent in such movies as The Scorpion King (a spin-off of the heavyweight character he played in the 2001 Brendan Fraser blockbuster starrer The Mummy Returns, The Rock’s movie debut), The Rundown (as a tenacious bounty hunter), Walking Tall (as a war hero-turned-vigilante), Doom (as an interstellar alien tracker), Be Cool (as a gay Samoan bodyguard; yes, he’s really a Samoan), Gridiron Gang (as a football coach) and Southland Tales (as a futuristic movie star).
The Rock can wrestle and act and do a lot of other things. So what else can he do?
Yes, he can sing!
During the press junket for his latest starrer, Walt Disney Pictures’ The Game Plan, at the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore last week, The Rock gamely proved it by singing, upon the request (or was it a “dare?”) of a lady journalist from Malaysia, Are You Lonesome Tonight by Elvis Presley who happens to be all over the movie (a poster of his movie King Creole, that song on the soundtrack and even a film clip of The Pelvis in trunks). “I’m a big Elvis fan,” admitted The Rock who plays football star Joe Kingman whose single-blessedness comes to an abrupt halt one morning when he finds at his doorstep the eight-year-old love daughter, Peyton (played with huggable delight by Disney Channel star Madison Pettis), he never thought he had. The Rock as a baby-sitter? That you have to see.
Seated at the platform with a Singaporean moderator and wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, The Rock was reluctant at first but soon “relented” and sang his favorite Elvis song. Applause, applause, applause!!! Would he sing only one line? Guess again! Even when the moderator was saying, “Thank you, everybody, for coming!,” The Rock kept on singing, he couldn’t be stopped now, even as he stood up and waved goodbye to his overjoyed audience, and started walking off the platform.
Throughout the open forum and, later, during the round-table interview, The Rock was absolute fun, wowing the journalists even more with his sense of humor and his ever-smiling disposition, showing his pearly-white teeth which should land him as a Colgate or a CloseUp endorser.
His sense of humor and his comedic talent light up The Game Plan which topped the box office for two weekends across the US (opening on Wednesday, Nov. 7, in the Philippines).
What attracted you to the movie?
“It has a wonderful story; a very sweet, simple story about a guy who has everything. He finds love in an eight-year-old girl who calls him ‘Daddy.’ I have a six-year-old daughter, Simone, so I can very well identify with Joe Kingman. Like I have with Peyton in the movie, I have a wonderful relationship with Simone.”
Do you plan to bring Simone to watch the movie with you?
“Oh yes, I will. Doing this movie is big deal in our household because it’s Daddy’s first movie that Simone can see because my past movies were a little bit too grown-up for her. Simone will enjoy the movie, I’m sure. At home, she watches The Disney Channel all the time.”
Are you more comfortable working with a child than with adult actors?
“Very much so. A lot of times, children are smarter than the adults that I work with. Children are nice to work with because, you know, they still have this wonderment of life which adults don’t have. Adults can be cranky sometimes. Madison is unbelievably talented, gorgeous and very smart. In comedy, you always want a good comedic partner to bounce the joke off. Timing is also very important. Madison is good in both. On the set, she became friends with Simone who would sometimes tag along with me.”
Being a father yourself, how did you internalize for the role?
“Good question. I would say there’s a special bonding process that takes place between a father and his child, and I was very fortunate that I was able to bring those experiences into the role. I felt as if Madison was my own daughter and it made our relationship in the movie stronger; it made it easier for me to fall in love with her.”
How has fatherhood changed you?
“A great deal. I grew up being an only child and I was always on the road and always on the go, living in a lot of places, so fatherhood has changed me to a degree that I really appreciate family more. I know what it’s like to be selfless. I know the beauty of living life for somebody else, literally, for another human being.”
You have only one child. How many more do you and your wife plan to have?
“We’d like to have some more. But right now, my wife and I are separated but we are best friends and business partners. We have maintained a strong and loving relationship in the eyes of our daughter, which is very important. We live within a mile of each other and our daughter spends time with both of us, even if separately. In my daughter’s mind, my house or my wife’s house is just another house.”
How do you spend quality time with your daughter?
“Doing little things. Before, I would think, what is the biggest possible thing that I could do for her? Where could I take her...to another country, to Disneyland? As you get older, you realize that the smallest things are really the most important things — you know, like picking her up from school, eating with her, going to the beach with her, just hanging out with her.”
Are you the kind of father who spoils his daughter?
“Oh yeah, I am!”
Does she know that you are a superstar?
“For a while, she didn’t. For the past couple of years, she wouldn’t understand why people wanted to have pictures with Daddy, why people wanted to have Daddy’s autograph. So I explained to her that Daddy makes movies but I couldn’t show her my movies. This time, she will have a chance to watch my movie and maybe she’ll understand what sort of job Daddy is doing.”
Would you allow her to be in the movies, too?
“I don’t think she likes to be in the movies. She wants to be a lawyer and follow in the footsteps of Condoleeza Rice. Ha, ha, ha!”
You cry in one scene in the movie. Do you find it easy to cry?
“Yes, it’s easy. During the shooting of that scene, I put myself in the reality that if I lost my own daughter, how would I react? And then, I found myself crying!”
Elvis Presley is all over the movie — a huge poster of his movie King Creole in your room, his song Are You Lonesome Tonight on the soundtrack and a film clip of him on TV in trunks while you are relaxing at home, naked from the waist up. Even the surname of your character has a “King” in it. Whose idea was it?
“Oh, it was my idea. I’m a big fan of Elvis, although I’m not that obsessive.”
You even sing in one scene (yes, Are You Lonesome Tonight). Any plan to be a recording star?
“In that scene, Madison’s character is crying and any parent will do anything to make his child feel good, so I sing. And no, I don’t have any ambition to be a singer.” (Laughs)
What kind of music do you like?
“Aside from Elvis Presley songs, I like R ’n B and hip-hop. I live in the south of Florida and there’s a lot of hip-hop there.”
Would you like to star in a musical?
“Yes, I would love to do a musical movie. I think musicals are a lot of fun and I would love to do one.”
From wrestling to football. How did you feel about the shift?
“Ahhhh. Well, the difference is that wrestling is more theatrical, it’s a television production so there’s more showmanship involved.
“Football is legitimate and the punishment that your body takes is very real, so it’s difficult. I have a lot of respect for football players. Football is not new to me because I played football in school as a member of the 1991 NCAA Champion University of Miami Hurricanes. I injured my back during a game and I was sidetracked to wrestling.”
You retired from wrestling three years ago. But just an afterthought, in wrestling how much of the “violence” is real and how much is make-believe?
“The physical part is, of course, real. The falls are real. In wrestling, you can fake everything because there’s a camera. If you fall from a chair, it’s a real chair you’re falling from and if you land on the floor, it’s a real floor you are landing on. But, as I’ve said, there’s a lot of showmanship involved. There’s a script that you act out; the confrontation is scripted, including the spot where you are supposed to land.”
Was it hard saying goodbye to a sport that made you famous?
“Not at all. I said, ‘Goodbye!’ Just like that. I retired from wrestling quietly. For me, wrestling has always been fantastic and I love it. But I also know that if you want to be good at acting, you have to focus and concentrate on it, you have to commit yourself to it.”
But you have retained The Rock as your title. Aren’t you changing it for something else?
“The Rock will always be my nickname. It’s a cool nickname, isn’t it?
Yes, of course. Solid as a rock. By the way, would you allow your child to try wrestling when she grows up?
“Hmmmm, I don’t think so. She’s a girl and I don’t think I have to worry about it. Fortunately, she’s too intelligent to do that.”
Have you had any major injuries as a wrestler?
“Yeah! I have a lot of cuts and tears in my body, and things like that. The bruises are actually inside; I don’t let them show.”
You wrestled, you play football, you sing and you act. Is there anything you cannot do?
“I can’t fly!”
What odd jobs did you do before you became a wrestler and now an actor?
“The first job I had was when I was 13; I was a dishwasher at a pizza place, making $3.45 an hour. That was back in Hawaii where I grew up. After that, I did tele-communicating. I was one of those guys who would call up people and say, ‘Hey, do you want to go on vacation? I need your credit card.’ I did 10 other odd jobs after that.”
You’ve been compared to (California Gov.) Arnold Schwarzenegger. How do you feel about it?
“I’m flattered! Arnold is great. We’ve been friends for sometime. He’s always unbelievably supportive and I really appreciate it. He’s successful in everything he does. He’s a successful governor. The only difference is that he can’t run for President of the United States and I can.” (Laughs again)
You could run for President in the Philippines and you would win. (That was a joke!)
“Oh, I’ve been to the Philippines a few years ago and it was fantastic. I went there for a wrestling show; it was one of the few places I wrestled in before I retired. It’s a beautiful country; the people were so gracious. We were there for three days. I wanted to visit places other than Manila but I didn’t have time. The extent of my stay was in the hotel.”
Any plan of going back?
“Sure! Maybe for my next movie.”
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)