There’s no way anyone could actually “gang” up on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Have you seen him? But ask him about his new movie Gridiron Gang–a football drama based on an Emmy-winning 1993 documentary, also called Gridiron Gang–and Johnson immediately gets animated. The actor plays Sean Porter, a real-life juvenile detention camp probation officer who uses the game of football as a way to rehabilitate his young charges and give them something meaningful in their troubled lives. What’s not to get excited about?
“It’s easy, especially when the movie’s good,” Johnson told Hollywood.com. “But if it isn’t…well, you’ve sat across from actors before—and I’ve made some of these movies—where you’re trying to find things to talk about. How was the lighting? How was it shooting at the monsters? What was your favorite part? The end?” [Laughs]
Johnson isn’t kidding. The guy has made his fair share of stinkers, including the, er, doomed video game-turned-movie Doom and the failed Get Shorty sequel Be Cool. But in doing Gridiron Gang, The Rock has found some kindred spirits and explains why the film stands out in a saturated field of inspiring football movies.
Hollywood.com: Do you feel like you’ve gotten back to some of your roots with Gridiron Gang?
DJ: Yeah, sure. Selfishly for me, I get to put the pads back on. I love playing football. But the biggest reason I did the movie was the opportunity to tell an incredible story. I sat down with the producer Neal Moritz who said “I believe you’re the guy.” He gave me the documentary and the script, but asked me to watch the documentary first. I watched that thing and I was moved. I laughed, I cried, I cheered, got motivated. The documentary, hosted by Louis Gossett Jr., chronicles exactly what you see in the movie, these kids and what they had to go through. I called Neal back at 2:00 am and said I loved to do it.
HW: During the end credits, those are scenes from the documentary then?
DJ: Those are the actual scenes, yeah. What happened was we tested the movie about eight months ago, and got great marks. Everyone loved the movie. But across the board, the audiences felt like we took too many creative liberties, like when the kids cry after they lose their first football game. The audiences thought if they were real gang-bangers, they would never cry like that. So [director] Phil Joanou decided to show that not only did they lose their first game, those kids really did cry. Like babies, because they didn’t know how to handle that type of loss. Then that lead to—if you don’t think a gang-banger would say, “I just want my mom to love me,” here’s the proof. Junior Palaita, who killed people with a baseball bat, if you think he’s not sorry for what he did, here’s the proof.
HW: Was there any conscious decision in changing the race of the lead character?
DJ: To be honest, not at all. Not at one time did that get brought up. I think what happens with a movie like this, it becomes a labor of love for a lot of people. And you have to understand, this movie has been around for 15 years, a long time. Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis, even Sylvester Stallone, there’s been a lot of guys who wanted to be Sean Porter and be involved in this movie. For whatever reason, they had other projects and just dropped off. I think it’s a good thing [the race issue] was never brought up because when I watched the documentary, I never thought, “Oh, I’m not white, so I could never play him.” I’m going to capture this guy, I understand what this guy’s going through. I was one of those kids. Arrested multiple times by the time I was 17. I know what it’s like to fail, and how people expect you to fail. I know what it’s like to disappoint people around you. So, for me, I wanted to play this man. It was an honor.
HW: There must have been a real emotional connection to this story for you.
DJ: Oh yeah. My arresting officer when I was 14 told me “You’re going to stop screwing up and go play football for your freshman high school team.” But I didn’t learn a lesson. I continued to get arrested and get in trouble. Good thing is, now I understand the value of having someone in my life who cared about me. And understanding those parallels. To give you an example, Sean Porter had this incredible relationship with his mom. His mom was his biggest fan, as mine is too. Sean’s mom died during the making of that documentary on Oct. 25. My mom was born on Oct. 25. So there were a lot eerie connections that took place.
HW: It is such a positive story, why do you think it took so long to be made into a feature film?
DJ: It wasn’t difficult to get the movie made, because when you see the documentary, you think, “OK, let’s just make this.” But Lee Stanley, who is responsible for shooting the documentary, a good Christian man who has dedicated his life to kids in these prisons, he held onto it. He didn’t think some of those actors were right [for the part]. He was very frank. You ask him today and he’d say, “Stallone isn’t the right guy for this.” Not to say they aren’t great actors, they are. But Stanley wanted a guy who understands what these kids are going through. It’s that bulls**t, pardon my language, barometer that these kids have. Stanley said, “If we are going to be real and responsible about what we are going to make, then we’ve got to get somebody right.” That’s why I was so fortunate, and honored to play a guy who is not a celebrity. It’s one thing when you’re a celebrity and you’re splashed all over the papers for doing good things. It’s another thing when you’re Sean Porter. He represents thousands of men and women in probation. He drives to a place where no one wants to go to, a prison for kids. Not for money, or fame, but for kids. He oversees five prisons now. He’s something else.
HW: Were you able to speak with some of the real kids locked up?
DJ: We filmed at Camp Kilpatrick, where there are 130 kids locked up right now. We talked to the kids every day. I tell you what was good, to see these kids get motivated. Because, these kids have a big BS factor. They can smell it like that, from a mile away. But it’s great to tell them, “Hey, this is a story we are making about your life. The kids before you got out, made something of themselves—a couple of them died, some are serving life sentences—but a LOT of them became good men, good fathers, good people. You can do it, too. There’s no BS. Here’s proof.” They got motivated, eyes wide. It was motivating for us, too. That football program has not blossomed into basketball, baseball and track, but there are other football programs at other prisons. So over the course of 13, 14 years, a lot has happened. A lot of progress has been made.
HW: Do you personally feel a responsibility to be a positive role model for kids, with the choices you make in your career?
DJ: I can tell you this. As I get older, you start to realize that great responsibility. We all have that as adults, cause we’re somebody’s role model. Someone younger is looking up to us, have that responsibility to take care of our kids. I also realize that responsibility as a celebrity, as an actor. It’s non-negotiable. Role model, non-negotiable. You embrace that. It annoys me when guys do don’t do that. You embrace it, because it is what it is and you’ve got that power. And not only that, I’m a daddy. NOW, I know. Oh, now I know how important it is. You provide my kid, I provide your kid, with the tools necessary to make the right decisions.
HW: Do you sort of wish Gridiron Gang was being released a little later, since there seems to be a few football movies coming out, like Invincible and also Matthew McConaughey’s We Are Marshall in December?
DJ: Not at all. The movie’s tracking great, I’m happy. Oddly enough, and I can tell this now, the producers of Invincible are the same producers I’m working with on my next movie, the family film The Game Plan for Disney. They were suppose to come out with Invincible three weeks AFTER Gridiron Gang but they heard how good Gridiron Gang was and pushed up the release date. Here’s the thing, if Invincible wasn’t such a good movie, I’d be pissed because to move in front of us and it’s not a good movie would hurt us. Inspirational movies get people feeling good.
HW: How does Gridiron Gang distinguish itself for the other inspirational football films?
DJ: Those are great movies, inspiring movies. You know, when adults achieve something and make a definitive decision to change their lives, I admire that. I really do. Vince Papale in Invincible, the coach in Remember the Titans, Miracle, all of those movies. But I think the one thing that distinguishes Gridiron Gang from those other movies is you’ve got kids who are 13, 14, 15 years-old making that definitive decision. I couldn’t imagine making those decisions at 14. These kids are locked up for petty theft and murder. They are making a decision that even though they are locked up, they are going to be somebody. They are going be winners. The world may think they are losers but it’s not true. That’s powerful. These are kids! To me, that’s what separates Gridiron Gang.
