A
one-time top level American football player and former WWE star, Dwayne Johnson
broke into film with The Mummy Returns,
which led to his first starring role, in The
Scorpion King in 2002. The success of that film led to subsequent
leading roles in The Rundown, Walking Tall and Gridiron Gang. He also gave a
strong performance in the ensemble hit Be
Cool, lent his voice to Planet 51
as astronaut Captain Charles Baker and returned to big family comedy with his
starring role in Tooth Fairy and Race to Witch Mountain. Other credits
include Faster and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. He
joined the Fast and Furious franchise
in 2011’s Fast Five, playing hard
lawman Luke Hobbs. He returns in Fast &
Furious 6…
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| Photo courtesy of UIP |
What’s
new for your character, Hobbs, in this movie?
In
the Hobbs world and in the Hobbs fashion world there is another mission. There
is another bad guy to get and in order to catch wolves you need to get wolves,
so Hobbs has to enlist the help of Dom and his crew to help catch this other
group of bad guys. Essentially, I am just giving you the rough overview of it,
but in the spirit of Don Corleone they make him ‘an offer that he can’t refuse.’
There is a reason why he has to help; he has no choice but I am never on their
side. They are bad guys and they broke the law and I still think they are
pieces of sh*t, excuse my language! There is a bigger picture involved and
there are bigger fish to get. Once we get this big fish I am then going to take
care of Dom and his crew because there is still unfinished business. That
creates a wonderful conflict dynamic and palpable energy and intensity.
What
do you like about playing this guy?
I
like that he is very myopic in his approach and there is no grey area. It is
either black or white. In his constitution and in his make up and his wiring he
is all about getting the job done, all about finding whomever that person or
group is, hunting them down and bringing them in. That’s what he does. Along
the way he has access to some of the greatest automobiles in the world that the
government supplies. He is not about small and fast in terms of cars. He is about
big and powerful. It is the same with the weapons, too. It is a fun, fun
character and it is great as an actor to come on board with an incredible
franchise that really has, against the odds, been incredibly successful and
continues to ascend in this success. The character is fun.
To
what do you attribute the success of the Fast and Furious franchise?
I
think what drives the success of the franchise is the studio. You have
individuals at Universal who have been around for a very long time and with
Universal, they are like family to me. They were the ones who broke me into the
business with The Mummy Returns and
they saw potential in me and then gave me my break with The Scorpion King and a lot of those individuals are still there.
So I know that they are consistently in the sphere of, ‘How can we be better?’
They are very protective of their franchise and it is important not only to
make a movie that’s better in many ways than the last one, but also in two,
three, four movies down the road and whether they do ten more without me, who
knows, but that spirit drives them. And then there’s Vin, who cares deeply
about the franchise and he really helps to drive it.
In
this movie there’s no major showdown with Hobbs and Dom, but you do fight one
guy who’s even bigger than you, right?
Right.
Since there is not a Dom and Hobbs showdown in this one the idea was to get
individuals who were viable bad guys, not only psychologically to have the
advantage over the good guys but also physically as well.
Have
you ever fought an actor who is bigger than you?
No.
I haven’t.
Are
you looking forward to it?
I
am looking forward to it because I win! If I was going to lose on the other
hand…
How
do you think the sixth movie will top what’s come before?
The
last one was great, I enjoyed it, I loved the script and I think we are making
a hell of a movie. I think we have a great shot at making a movie that is just
as exciting as the last one, possibly more so, in different ways. We are
introducing a lot more characters in this one, which is a great challenge for
Justin [Lin, the director]. He has done a great job at balancing that and making
sure that everyone has a moment to shine, characters old and new. The action is
ramped up. Generally, it is hard to compare. You just kind of put together the
best movie you can and have confidence in what you deliver. I think we are
making a great movie.
Can
you talk a little about the aeroplane sequence at the end of the movie?
I
started shooting a little bit of that a couple of days ago. The Antonov is a
massive Russian plane, a massive plane, and it is an incredibly massive final
sequence to the movie. I will put it up there and challenge any ending action
sequence in the history of Hollywood in comparison. We have thrown everything we
had at this final action sequence. It will be however high-up in the air and
there will be the Antonov and every character in the movie will be on that
plane. And without giving too much away, the plane’s going down!
How
have you enjoyed the experience of shooting in London?
I
love London, I do, and we have had a lot of challenges with the city. The number
one challenge was the Olympics, which was interesting because we had knew that
the Olympics were here! There have been challenges that you just deal with. I
give a lot of credit to Justin Lin. It is a very, very big movie, a very big
franchise and he has a lot to balance and he wears a multitude of hats every
day. And all the challenges we talked about he deals with in a very calm, smart
way. He has a wonderful energy to him, very focused, but personally I have
enjoyed London. The city is very film-friendly regardless of the challenges
that we have had. The city is great so I have a continued love affair with
London. I love it.
Does
it feel like coming back to visit old friends when you return to a franchise
like this?
Every
actor has their own processes and some of the processes make sense to a lot of
people. Some of it seems crazy. It worked out very well for me, personally,
coming into this franchise. They are already a family, a group that has been
together for many, many years on screen and off screen. For me, my character
didn’t know the other characters, personally, and it worked out very nicely
because I was able to keep my distance on the last movie and on this one too. I
come on and it is an intense shoot. I am intense. I like to have fun but I
don’t like to mess around necessarily with the other actors because there is
still a palpable energy that is important that we maintain.
Do
you plan to do some more diverse movies or will you be sticking to action
roles?
I
would love to do more diverse movies. My goal when I went into acting was to
have a diverse career. Twelve years ago when I started with The Mummy Returns I wanted to be able to
sit here all these years later today saying that I had been able to work in all
different genres and hopefully have success in them. But if not, okay. Doing
something like Southland Tales was
very exciting to me and working with a director like Richard Kelly, a
writer-director, was very unique. And there is a big movie I am doing called Pain and Gain, myself and Mark Wahlberg,
directed by Michael Bay, and there’s another small movie I have coming out
called Snitch. So those are different
movies that hit a sensibility for me and I welcome them and love that. Those
movies are not the first ones that come across my desk. And when a studio has a
script it is ‘Okay, we have here a main character who has multiple personal
disorders, suicidal tendencies and all these things.’ The Rock isn’t really the
person who comes to mind! I do get that and for me generally it is through a
director who wants to shake things up and wants to shock the world — that’s how
I get more interesting material.
Do
you have any thoughts on women in action films?
I
think it is great when you can find women in action films and you certainly
find it in spades in this movie because you have two women who are viable,
believable, bankable and are good at kicking ass! And they can do it legitimately.
I think that is played out on screen so I think the audience is really going to
enjoy seeing them.
How
was it working with Gina Carano?
I
spend a lot of time with Gina. I love Gina. I have followed her career for a
very, very long time and I admire her too, in so many ways. It is not easy to
break into Hollywood and it is not easy to make it in Hollywood and yet she has
done both very well. She surrounds herself with good people and she has a great
head on her shoulders. She was very
successful in MMA, a male dominated world, which is very admirable and then to
make that transition, seemingly seamless by the way, is very impressive. She
has a big, bright future in that business if she wants it.
Will
Samoa ever beat the Wallabies at rugby again and do you wish you were on the
national side?
I
have faith in my homeland. Do I ever wish I were playing? No. I will tell you
why. I used to live in New Zealand for some time. I went to school there and I
played rugby. I have been very lucky to have played American Football and
American professional wrestling for a very long time and have my fair share of
action in Hollywood. But there is no tougher sport than rugby and those who
have played it and understand the game know what I am talking about. Those who
don’t, well I have this argument all the time with my American buddies who are
great football players and I tell them, ‘As amazing as you are at football, I
want you to take all your pads off, including your helmet and then go play the
game. See how long you last.’ But no, I don’t wish I were playing.
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