Source: Floridian
Dwayne Johnson’s performance in Gridiron Gang will surprise those who think of him only as the Rock. He is an actor whose success will be measured by how fast he loses the nickname he earned as a pro wrestler.
Johnson has worked hard to get noticed as more than the muscle-flexing action hero Hollywood expects former jocks to be. He has taken risks, such as playing a gay bodyguard singing country music in Be Cool, and a spot in Richard Kelly’s strange Southland Tales that divided Cannes Film Festival audiences.
Gridiron Gang, opening today, is his first leading role with the emotional weight Johnson always believed he could carry, playing Sean Porter, a real-life corrections officer who made football a rehabilitation tool for juvenile offenders. Johnson played the game for the University of Miami Hurricanes.
“This is a very defining movie for me, in many ways,” he said in a telephone interview. “Not just for the story, but for me as an actor. It’s an opportunity to get out there and prove myself, to challenge myself as well. Nobody can challenge you but you.”
So far, Johnson has met those challenges, surprising audiences in Be Cool and The Rundown with comedic instincts that measure up to his 6-foot-5 physique. He still settles for action roles when they come along, but the unpopularity of Doom and Walking Tall spurred him to pursue classier projects like Gridiron Gang.
Johnson lined up a couple of Plan B’s in case the dramatic stretch proved a strain. Johnny Bravo is a live-action version of a Cartoon Network hit, and Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run is based on a video game. Neither is close to production. Retreating to such material seems unlikely now, given the insider buzz for his portrayal of Porter. Disney has already hired him for The Game Plan, a family comedy about a swinging pro quarterback who discovers he is a father.
“Word travels quickly in a small Hollywood community,” he said. “A Disney family comedy is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I passed on The Pacifier a role that went to Vin Diesel just waiting for the right material to come along. Now I’m a proud daddy of a 5-year-old daughter and I understand the importance of that relationship. Making a movie at the Mouse House just seems right to do.”
Following his instincts serves Johnson well, making him a role model for other wrestlers breaking into movies, the way Ice-T and Ice Cube set examples for rap musicians doing the same. Before Johnson, the most celebrated wrestler-actor was the late Andre the Giant (The Princess Bride), whose extraordinary physique made his demolished English bearable. Johnson is obviously handsome and can handle rough stuff onscreen. But his ambition to grow in roles and performance leads wrestlers to ask for his advice on their own acting plans.
“The first thing I say is, guys, it’s not easy,” Johnson said. “It all depends on what kind of actor you want to be. You can make action movies all day long. That’s fine, if that’s what you want to be.
“But if you want to be a good actor, you’ve got to have laser focus. You’ve got to be prepared to fail and be ready to deal with that loss. You’ve got to be gracious with your success. I’ve come from that (wrestling) world, and there’s a lot of selfishness. You’ve got to be unkind. That can’t carry over to acting. And don’t be driven by the dollar, because that’ll get you every time.”
World Wrestling Entertainment champion John Cena speaks often with Johnson about the business. He is the latest wrestler being groomed for Hollywood by ring impresario Vince McMahon through his fledgling WWE Films. They’re the folks who brought you Kane as a mass murderer in See No Evil, and they have Steve Austin coming soon in The Condemned. (“I’m not too sure if that company will get into the kind of material I want to do,” Johnson said, laughing.)
Cena debuts Oct. 13 in The Marine, playing a veteran who, after his wife is kidnapped, embarks on the kind of revenge tour that Johnson got out of the way with Walking Tall. Cena spent a few minutes before a recent Tampa wrestling event discussing Johnson’s career suggestions.
“What he says is very much like coaching advice: Stay focused, take the good with the bad, the road isn’t paved with gold.
“He always tells me to keep hustling. That’s his deal. He doesn’t know the word ‘quit.’ You can tell him to swim the English Channel, and he’ll ask how many times. He doesn’t know how to fail. If he wants to win an Oscar, he’ll win an Oscar.”
But Johnson isn’t confident enough to set that goal yet. Part of his success so far is recognizing his limitations while always trying to get beyond them.
“When I first broke in and wasn’t getting the material, the only thing I could do was prepare myself the best I can: work with great acting coaches, work with decent directors, work with good actors. You can’t stop learning. That’s one thing Christopher Walken told me (on the set of The Rundown): ‘That’s the beauty of our business, that you never stop learning.’ ”
Just about the only thing not rolling the Rock’s way these days is his beloved Hurricanes’ recent, painful 13-10 loss to Florida State. He puts his money where his heart remains, joining his wife, Dany, in donating $2-million for an alumni center at UM, where he almost flunked out 15 years ago.
“It’s everything I learned at the University of Miami that’s going to shape me,” he said. “I can’t remember 30 things from the classroom, but I can tell you about the sacrifice. I can tell you about almost getting my scholarship revoked by Coach (Dennis) Erickson.
“I had a 0.7 (grade point average) at one time. Do you know how hard it is to get a 0.7? I had to go to my professors every day and have them sign a note like I was in kindergarten: ‘Dwayne Johnson was in class.’ I rebounded from that and graduated.
“It’s what I was saying about being gracious, giving back, because you really don’t do anything by yourself.”
One nicely timed pause later, Johnson added: “But if they lose another game, I’m taking it back.”
