Some actors are best known for their roles in various movies. Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Spiderman, etc. Toby Maguire fame skyrocketed after Spiderman, Harrison Ford is got his iconic status with the role of Indiana Jones, etc. However, there is one popular guy that is a brand of his own actually. His name is Dwayne The Rock Johnson. And everyone loves The Rock!
This guy can take the stage at LA Comic Con and everyone is okay with that. The audience even chanted his name. Every movie and project of his is greeted by applause and roars. Not only do they know The Rock for being an actor, but they also know him as a wrestler. He was pretty good, but it seems that his acting career has even more potential. He was behind numerous shows, movies and projects such as Ballers, Tooth Fairy, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (release date is Dec. 20), so there is no surprise that people love him.
Dwayne is the guy who will interrupt the panel just to say hello to a 5-year-old boy in the front row. He is the one to greet a bunch of enthusiastic female wrestlers who invited him to grapple. When he decides that it’s time for a Q&aA most of the people just ask for an autograph or a selfie. The Rock is also a popular topic when it comes to next Presidential Election. He is already called the People’s President. And he stated that he thinks how ‘the People’s President has a really nice ring to it.’
So loving The Rock is perfectly okay. People love chocolate and puppies, people love this man. His Jumanji director, Jake Kasdan, said: ‘When I tell people I’m working with him, everybody standing there always says, ‘Oh, I love The Rock.’ It’s almost like a reflexive, mechanical reaction.’
And The Rock probably loves you too. He’ll definitely shake your hand if you meet him. Don’t be afraid, he may be bulky and huge, but he won’t squash your tiny fingers into jelly. It’s silly to think that he’d do such thing. His voice, however, is soft and his smile is genuine and friendly, and he’ll want to learn everything about you. He likes to do research so he may actually know where you’re from and where you went to college. When you talk to him a week later, he’ll ask you about that major life event and whether you feel scared because The Rock knows how important it is to have a strong emotional foundation and support.
The thing about Dwayne is that he looks tough and hard, but he is actually a really kind guy. Well, that fact plays an important role in Jumanji as his character is Dr. Smolder Bravestone. After 20 minutes he appears in the movie by dropping in from the sky into the jungle. The very first show of him is a close-up of that famous People’s Eyebrow. As soon as you see that right eyebrow arch skywards, you know that you’re in for a treat. You’re in for some good jokes, kicking bad guys’ as*es and carrying Kevin Hart on his back. ‘I’d love to sit up here and call him a jackass and all types of names, but I can’t,’ says Hart, who also teamed up with Johnson in last year’s Central Intelligence. ‘He’s an unbelievable guy and an unbelievable talent. If it’s light comedy, if it’s action, if it’s sincere, he can pretty much do it all.’
However, even though Jumanji embraces classic features of a Johnson movie, it also inverts them. The Rock isn’t really Smolder Bravestone. He’s rather a high school nerd called Spencer who got sucked into a magic video game after choosing Bravestone as his character. He also led his classmates in, and they are played by Kevin Hart, Karen Gillian, and Jack Black. The Rock is 45 years old man, and it’s been a while since he had to take a look at his awkward teenage years. He says that the teenage anxiety isn’t something he wasn’t familiar with. ‘When I was 13 and pimply and had an Afro, I was two years away from people thinking I was a girl,’ Johnson says with a laugh. ‘When I was 11, kids thought I was a girl. I had very soft features. My Afro was soft; it didn’t kink up yet. So I was still battling my own insecurities.’
The movie Jumanji also reminded Dwayne of his youth in a more immediate way. Hawaii is where it was filmed, and this guy spent some of his teenage years exactly there. He is an only child of a pro wrestler Rocky Johnson and a Samoan mother, Ata Johnson. Dwayne used to be a rebel during his youth and he was arrested multiple times. “We were evicted, so we had no choice but to leave the island — which is not how people should generally leave Hawaii,” he says. “You should leave happy with the aloha spirit and get on a plane with your leis.”
That’s why nowadays, the Rock always shoots everything he can in the state of Hawaii. One of the reasons for this is the fact that he can bring jobs to the islands and whenever he finds himself there he likes to drive his daughters by the 7-Eleven where he used to steal a Snickers bar every day on his way to the gym. Dwayne has a 1-year-old with his girlfriend Lauren Hashian and a 16-year-old from his previous marriage. ‘There’s a Polynesian word we have called mana, which means spirit or power,’ Johnson explains. ‘And it’s so gratifying for my mana to go back.’
Being honest about his past is really respectful, and that’s why he has such a strong fan base. He isn’t fake, this man is genuine as a person. Dwayne has 96 million followers on Instagram where he shares his triumphs and failures, but he is always extremely positive. Sometimes he posts a video of him lifting weights in the gym at 4 am or a story about wrestling for $40 at Memphis flea markets. The Rock also shared his struggles of making friends at new schools since classmates thought how he was an undercover cop. Another thing that wrestler turned actor decided to share with his fans is about how he named his company Seven Bucks Productions because when he was cut from the Canadian Football League in 1995, he only had $7 in his pocket. ‘I like to contradict what this awesome life is with a truth as well, which is my past,’ Johnson says. ‘I’ve found that that openness helps other people.’
When The Rock landed his first film role – he was on the cast of the Scorpion King in 2001’s the Mummy Returns – folks from Hollywood weren’t aware of the talent, and they didn’t see what this 6-foot-5 wrestling giant can do. He respects careers of stars such as Will Smith and Tom Cruise, but he just didn’t fit that mold. Dwayne says how he doesn’t know if that’s because of his physique or previous jobs. He was uncertain how to deal with the scary and unfamiliar world of moviemaking, so he decided to stick with the current blueprint. At least in the beginning. ‘He was told he was going to have to be in a box,’ states his longtime producing partner Beau Flynn. ‘He was going to have to take a path. And I have such immense respect for him because he went back to that extraordinary gut, and he listened to himself—never to his handlers or his agents at the time. He was like, ‘This is who I am. This is who I want to be’.’
That authenticity, that’s why people adore The Rock. Johnson was the world’s highest-paid actor in 2016. He reportedly amassed $64.5 million (source: Forbes). His 2018 will feature Rampage and Skyscraper, and his upcoming period is stacked with high-profile, big-budget projects — from Disney’s Jungle Cruise to a Fast &a Furious spinoff. In the meantime, he has earned a reputation as the kindest and hardest-working guy in Hollywood. ‘I’ve realized that the number-one thing that keeps me motivated and positive is operating like my back’s against the wall,’ he says. ‘Because when my back is against the wall, I feel like there’s only one way to go: You’ve gotta go forward.’
What a sentence to live by. Thanks Dwayne! You’re the best! Keep up the hustle!
