The King of WWF Wrestling, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Brings His Immense Star Power to the Silver Screen in The Mummy Returns
(Courtesy of Controversy Magazine....Retyped by Rock-Fever.net)
From the moment Dwayne Johnson was given the news that director/screenwriter Stephen Sommers had cast him as a mystic warrior king in The Mummy Returns, the electrifying, jaw-dropping, hi-energy follow up to 1999's gargantuan box office hit The Mummy, the buff, 28 years old(he's 29 now), über-athlete admits he was so excited he had gotten the role, he drove those around him crazy.
"I think my wife was ready to kill me, because the Mummy Returns was all I could talk about until I left to start making it", the surprisingly soft-spoken, muscular, he-man jokes. "I just couldnt believe I was going to be in the sequel to The Mummy, I absolutely loved the first one and I thought the cast was great, especially Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. So I was on Cloud Nine"
To film his character's spectacular battle sequences(which opens the dazzling sequel), Johnson-better known to million of WWF followers as "The Rock"-would have to travel half way across the world to the deserts of North Africa. Of course, this meant he would be thousands of miles away from the millions of devoted WWF fans who had come to weekly worship The Rock with hero-like reverence. But the candy ass-hating, Jabroni-beating superstar welcomed the time away from the wrestling ring.
"I kind of looked at it as a little vacation" he explains. "After being The Rock for so long, week after week, I thought it would be good to go somewhere and be someone else for a while."
But once he arrived in Morocco, The Rock was shocked to discover that his fame even exceeded geographical boundaries.
Everywhere we went, there were people who would chant his name and beg him for autographs- it was amazing" says Arnold Vosloo, who reprises his role as the evil Imhotep in the eye-popping The Mummy Returns. "He was like an icon to them. I guess they had seen the WWF from satellite TV, so he was `The Man` as far as they were concerned"
Although he was in Morocco for the sole purpose filming The Mummy Returns, The Rock would always take time out out for his followers by shaking literally hundreds of hands and signing everything from scraps of paper to restaurant menus. But once production on The Mummy Returns headed to Erfoud, a tiny village on the edge of the Sahara Desert, it seemed The Rock would finally be given the chance to concentrate on his role of The Scorpion King. Once there, however, fanatical fans were the least of his worries.
The Rock would soon find himself locked in a fierce life or death battle-the Saharan version of Montezuma's Revenge. Whenever his body wasnt trying to expel the foreign matter that was invading it, The Rock could be found resting on the sidelines wrapped in layers of blankets despite the often 128 degrees days of desert heat.
"I was sick as a dog" The Rock remembers. "It was burning-up outside, but I was shivering with the chills. It was a horrible situation. But I have no one to blame but myself. I thought I had everything figured out, but I was sorely mistaken, Oded Fehr(returning from The Mummy as Ardeth Bay) and Arnold Vosloo tried to warn me, but I wouldnt listen.
"Oded, Arnold and I were sitting outside at this little eating place, and I remember Oded saying `Rock, youve just got to watch out what you eat over here. Believe me, I know what I am talking about from experience." The Rock continues. "I was like "Oh, dont worry about it." But he was like, No, no, you can really get sick!" And Arnold was like, "I have tuna cans and bottle water from the States, anything you need." "Finally I told them, "It's ok, dont worry, Ive been around the world, some places, twice. So just give me some chicken over here. I thought it would be OK, because the chicken was on a skewer and had been barbequed. But you dont realize the other little things, like the ice they use to keep the butter fresh or the water they wash the vegetables with. And before I knew it, I was so sick.
They thought that it was food poisoning or sunstroke. Honest, they didnt know what it was. I didnt know what it was was either, I was just thinking, "Holy Shit, Im going to die out here!" So, I just ate toast and rice for like four days and prayed I wasnt going to keel over."
Realizing that one of his stars was seriously ill(with body temperatures reaching as high as 104 degrees), director Stephen Sommers offered The Rock the chance to recuperate for several days. Since The Rock was the main focus of the battle sequence they had traveled to Erfoud to film, this would mean, however, having to shut down production while he was nursed back to health. The Rock, though, would have none of that. This was his first big scene in his debut film, and he wasnt about to let a little case of possible food poisoning ruin what would be-literally and figuratively-his time in the sun.
"The Rock was such a trouper, he was ready to go, no matter what, Sommers says. "Even though I thought he was near death, once he got in front of those cameras, he gave it his all, and he was fantastic. I dont think a lesser man could have gotten through it. But we were dealing with The Rock, and he's not your everyday kind of guy"
Apparently, Sommers was not the only person impressed with The Rock's natural screen presence and physical abilities. News from across the Atlantic made The Rock realize that is decision to continue on, despite his poor medical condition, was going to pay off for him- beyond his wildest expectations
"I got a phone call while I was in Morocco, shivering underneath the covers, but it was one that made me feel better," he recalls with a laugh. "It was my agent, and he said, "Hey, theyre watching the dailies here in Hollywood and they really like what they see. Its just a thought right now, but they might possibly make a movie surrounding your character and how he became The Scorpion King, Needless to say, I felt a hundred percent better."
Before he was finally ready to head some to the U.S. though, a Scorpion King film was no longer pure speculation- it was now a fact. And earlier this year, with a script written by Sommers, production began in California on te Chuck Russell-directed The Scorpion King, with The Rock in the lead role. With a cast that also includes Michael Clarke Duncan and Summer Altice, this Mummy "spin off" promises to turn the Rock into the leader of a new generation of action heroes that Hollywood has been desperately searching for.
The six-foot-five, 250 pound Johnson, dressed in an Armani sweater and black pants by Boss, isnt sure, however, if he's ready to occupy the action/adventure throne that has for so long been filled by such Hollywood heavyweights as Arnold, Sly, and Bruce.
"Honestly, I dont know where I fit in, in the overall scheme of things," he confesses. "I dont mean that in a "I dont know what they see in me kind of way. I really just dont know, Ive certainly been looking forward to this chance to do movies. It's always been one of my plans. I mean, I had done some television spots, and of course, in the WWF, with our four hours of live TV every single week, I was able to showcase some entertaining qualities. So I think I have a lot of aspects to my acting personality. I dont think I know where I fit in because I feel the possibitities are endless.
"Thats something I learned after doing Saturday Night Live" he continues. "When I hosted SNL, I was adamant about not doing any wrestling skits. I wanted to do different things, like playing the monkey boy and being in drag. I was fine with that, because it showed I was capable of diversity. And it was only after SNL that the substantial offers started coming in, not just from a money standpoint, but from a substantial acting one. So that was really nice. I never anticipated that. A lot of eyes were opened after that night I was on SNL. Not just mine, but those of alot of people in Hollywood. I never, ever fathomed any of this would happen for me. I've just been very lucky."
Its a complete reversal of fortune for a man, who just a decade earlier, was walking around with little more than seven dollars in his pocket and no idea what he was going to do with the rest of his life.("And that money wasnt all paper, there was alot of change jingling around", he says jokingly.)..After receiving a football scholarship to the University of Miamim the defensive tackle spent his four years of college earning a degree in criminology and workin towards a career in pro football. But an injury sidelined his dreams of playing with the NFL forever. Refusing to pack it all in, call it a day and return home a loser, he accepted a job with the Canadian Football League as a player in their Calgary franchise. It was a decision, though, he would quickly regret making.
I was paid $350 a week, Canadian, so i was so broke, and I had to go live with four other guys," he recalls. "Our place was such a dump, and I had so little money that I had to get a mattress from one of those no-tell motels, out in the back garbage. It had all these stains on it. I had to use four bottles of Lysol to make it at least halfway decent to sleep on."
But things would only go from bad to worse for Johnson, the son of 70s wrestler Rocky Johnson and grandson of 60s champ Peter Maivia.
"I left home at 18, ready to conquer the world, but then I was cut from Calgary in 95," he explains. "My motivation wasnt lost, but I had to accept it as life. I was like, 'Im 23 and moving back in with my parents. Ive certainly made a mess of things." I was depressed, but I knew that I didnt want to go back to Calgary and live that way. So I knew that a chapter in my life was ending, and I had to start another chapter. I didnt know that I was going to become successful in the WWF, but I was going to take a swing at it. I was going to give the family business a shot and try as hard as I could to make it work."
Almost immediately upon stepping into the ring, however, Johnson instinctively felt he had found his true calling.
"During my very first lesson in wrestling school, I thought, 'This is where I belong' I feel right here. This feels right to me,' he confesses. "But yet theres no guarantees in life. I dont know if I'd fall and flop. I just knew that it felt right. I was going to give it all I had to see what happens. Once I got my foot in the door, it was up to me to bust through it."
Thanks to family connections, Johnson was able to land a WWF tryout in 1996. After a surprisely short time wrestling in the minor circuit as Flex Kavana, he made his official WWF debut in front of a Dallas arena full of wrestling fanatics as good guy Rocky Maivia. But fans didnt seem interested in his "babyface" persona, and it want until he switched to a nasty guy that audiences began to take notice. But the outlandish and bombastic Rocky Maivia would go through one final transformation- into the lovable, hunk in black briefs known as The Rock. His one raised eyebrow would not only turn the brash and bold character of The Rock into a six time world champion but also a pop culture phenomenon. Not since Ali or Michael Jordan had a single athlete generated so much interest in their given sport and assisted in helping it become a well-respected, multi billion dollar industry.
Most importantly, Johnson's ascent to wrestling superstardom would not only give him the financial stability he had worked hard for all his life(he's now a bonifide multi-millionaire), but it would allow him the chance to pursue a full fledged career in acting.
But with The Mummy Returns, an exciting and explosive technological cinematic marvel, poised to become one of the biggest hits of Summer 2001 and The Scorpion King sure to follow suit when its released next year, are The Rock's days as wrestling's King of the Ring now numbered? Why risk permanent injury or possible death on a nightly basis battling worthy opponents like Stone Cold Steve Austin when he could spend far less time working in an almost hazard-free profession such as movie-making? Its a question, he admits, he's been asking himself a lot lately.
"Why wrestle? Because I really have a passion for the industry of the WWF," The Rock proclaims. "I love what I do, and I really enjoy the pleasure it brings people. Honestly, though, I also have the same kind of passion for film. So I will juggle and try to maintain that posture for as long as I possibly can. From a physical standpoint, you're absolutely right, wrestling is very demanding. At 28(now 29), I feel alot older- physically- because youre getting pounded on every night. It's four hours of television, and thats not even mentioning the two or three house shows we have to do, which are the same as what you see on TV, just minus the television production.
So you are still working every night. Physically its draining and demanding. But I'll always be a part of the WWF in one way or another. It brought me to where I am now, so I'll never turn my back on it or the fans who have stuck by me the whole time. Like I said, though, Im going to do my best to do both. My wife, though, really likes this acting gig, because it's allowed us to spend more time with each other. But I'm just waiting for her to say, 'OK, I've had enough of you, it's time for you to go back on the road and work for a living."
That probably wont be happening anytime in the near future for The Rock and his wife(a Merrill Lynch executive) since the couple are expecting their first child in August. A self-professed control freak, Johnson admits his baby's birth has him completely on pins and needles- and not for the reasons usually associated with a first time father to be.
"Im kind of nervous about becoming a dad." he says. "That's because I'm a very controlling guy, so Im always on a schedule. With me, its like 'Let's do this now; in ten minutes, we'll do that' and in three years we'll do that' But with a baby, things arent that cut and dry. You are on the baby's schedule. That's going to take a little getting used to. I remember gettin a call from my wife in Charlotte, and she goes, "Im pregnant." Automatically, I was like, 'OK, we'll have to do this and we'll have to do that', I was blown away. And, of course, me, being the goofy guy that I am, I told her, 'Well congratulations,' But she was like 'Hey buddy, you're having this baby too, remember? I said, 'Oh yeah, I guess you're right.' And, yes, Ive been told, 'The Rock is going to do diapers."
Before heading back to the ring, Johnson plans on spending some well-deserved quality time with his wife and the newest edition to their family. And with The Mummy Returns in theaters and The Scorpion King in post production, Hollywood's hottest new property is on the look out for another project. To ensure he isnt pigeon-holed into playing just action characters, though, Johnson says he's going to take his time before deciding on a script. Whatever comes next, however, has already been determined in the cosmic scheme of things, he insists.
"I believe in fate," The Rock says, "I believe in luck. I believe in hard work, and I believe in one way or another all our hard work pays off. It might not pay off in a monetary form, but all the sacrifices that you've had to make will always come back to you in a good way. Its always happened that way for me, so I dont see it changing for any reason. That's what keeps me grounded. Ive always really been appreciative of what I've had, because I've seen a lot of drama, and Ive been through a lot of drama. Ive seen alot of struggle in my life. For what all that's worth, it has made up my constitution. And even with where Im at with my career, I still experience a certain amount of drama and struggle on a daily basis. We all do, no matter how famous we get. We're all human. And if I forgot that, that little piece of chicken in Morocco reminded me- in a big way!"- ED
