In his new movie Be Cool, the long-awaited sequel to Get Shorty, how does action film superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, well, be cool? He gets his ass kicked. He wears tight disco pants. He sings. He dances. He recites dialogue from the cheerleader film Bring It On.
In fact, just about the only recognizable bit of Rock-related business he does deliver on is that famously cocked eyebrow–and yet, he nearly walks away with the film. The Rock gives Hollywood.com the lowdown on his latest career move.
On his shift from action-packed thrillers into the world of comedy:
“I don’t think I necessarily took the role to get away from the action genre. I took it because it was a comedic role and a challenge. I’m sure you hear this a lot from actors, waiting for that role that allows them to be fearless. For me that was this role: an opportunity to play this guy who was conflicted in a world that he didn’t want to be in, and somehow felt he had something to offer through song and dance. He was a gay man was proud and by the end of the movie embraced even more that he was gay.”
On finding common ground with his character:
“I connected with Elliot because he’s an aspiring actor and that was me five years ago. He’s a guy who didn’t have a lot of money, which was me eight years ago. I was lucky in my life to have a lot of positive gay influences, my mentor for many, many years is a strong, proud, steadfast, truthful, gay man who by the way, I’ve seen kick a lot of people’s asses. He was a former professional wrestler. His name is Pat Patterson.”
On how he thinks audiences will respond to The Rock in a gay role:
“It was important to me to make it good because I didn’t want to turn anything into a mockery or an SNL skit. I tried to play it as straight as I could–no pun intended. It goes back to my ideology of what being a gay man is and bringing it over to Elliot. All the feedback from the gay community has been very positive. My intent was to play a guy who could make it and also connects with people, and he happened to be gay. And if people didn’t like it, he would be happy to kick somebody’s booty.”
On his singing and dancing debut in Be Cool:
“I’ve never sang before, and certainly not in movies. It was another way, when I sat down with Gary, to make Elliot more interesting. I told Gary ‘What if he can sing, too?’ and he asked ‘What, like R&B?’ I thought he was an artist with an old soul, something like Loretta Lynn. I thought of that because one of my favorite movies is Coal Miner’s Daughter and Sissy Spacek sings ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man’ in that, so I thought this made sense for a gay man. Gary loved it! As for the dance at the end, Elliot is completely free and out and living his dream on stage in front of millions of people, and what he would do is a customary Samoan slap dance. I called my cousins in Hawaii who are professional dancers and they helped choreograph.”
On his willingness to make a fool of himself-including spoofing his signature eyebrow tilt-to make a scene work:
“I love self-deprecating humor. I’m a big fan of that, and to have that running joke throughout the movie–“Look, I’ve got talent, how can you NOT see it!”–I thought was a great joke.”
On the art of being cool, as taught by John Travolta:
“He’s such a warm guy. He was so supportive, and I had never worked with him before, I just met him at rehearsals. He’s an icon, so it was thrill and pleasure working with him, and it’s interesting how quickly he was able to take me down. By the way, I drove him crazy. By day 18 I kept saying things like “Remember in Grease when you did this, and Urban Cowboy…” The coolest person I’ve worked with on set would be Travolta. He’ll breeze into the room and just saunter. He’s so cool.”
On the end of his professional wrestling career–at least for now:
“Contractually, it came and went last year. It was an interesting way it all came about because I wasn’t contacted during the fight or anything like that. It wasn’t until my own team congratulated me and I was like, ‘Really?’ I wish it would’ve gone down a little differently…Basically. I was over in Prague filming and it was one of those things that hit like a ton of bricks…I’m sure the door is always open and I appreciate that…I do miss that part, and it sucks I can’t perform live right now. I love live interaction.”
On busting through the stereotypes and broadening his horizons:
“I’ve always wanted to continue to diversify and take on movies that are entertaining at the end of the day. I’ve been very fortunate to have descent material and good movies and work with great actors…I think the challenges at first, from five or six years ago, was there was a stereotype that the wrestlers before me had, and understandably so. It took a lot of the executives to see me on the show and hosting SNL. It took The Scorpion King. And for me it was a matter of time, and I knew that. I just wanted opportunities. I will continue to work with great acting coaches and hopefully get better.”
