If he hadn’t been born with the body of an athlete, there’s a good chance that Dwayne Johnson would have become a stand-up comic.
Instead, he followed the footsteps of his father and grandfather to become a professional wrestler, where he found fame as The Rock.
Now 35, retired from the ring and turning his focus on acting, he’s finally getting a chance to flex his comic muscles. After a series of stereotypical macho roles in “The Mummy,” “The Scorpion King” and “Doom,” he’s starring in the family comedy “The Game Plan.”
“I like to make people laugh,” he said during a visit to promote Friday’s opening of the movie. “I still write monologues.”
Although he was a talented athlete (he played football on a University of Miami team that won the national championship), he believes his wrestling fame can be attributed as much to his flamboyant public presence as to his signature move, the Rock Bottom.
“That’s a crazy world,” he said of pro wrestling. “I relied a lot on my funny monologues. And that’s what got me interested in acting; I realized that people were responding” to his performances.
His original goal was to work in a TV sitcom, but he had an image problem. “People didn’t see me as that,” he said.
They saw him as big (6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, although he was billed as 6-5, 275 in his wrestling days), strong and tough — so that’s what he played. But when he got chances to show off his funny side, albeit briefly, in “Be Cool” and “The Rundown,” he jumped at them. And when the offer for “The Game Plan” came along, he did the same.
“I’m not a dark guy,” he insisted. “I think that people were surprised that I was funny in ‘The Rundown.’ “
Johnson said his approach to acting is sports-based.
“It’s the exact same philosophy,” he said. “It’s all about focus and hard work. I’m a big believer in hard work. Hard work pays off.”
The work isn’t done, Johnson said. Far from it.
“I don’t just want to be an actor, I want to become a good actor,” he said. “And to do that, I need to really, truly dedicate myself to acting. I need to seek out good material and good directors.”
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The Game Plan (PG)
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Who’s in it: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Madison Pettis, Kyra Sedgwick, Roselyn Sanchez
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What it’s about: A preening pro quarterback (Johnson) is forced to get over himself when he meets the 8-year-old daughter (Pettis) he never knew he had.
Worth watching? “Why isn’t Dwayne Johnson a big star by now? The camera loves him. He’s funny, self-deprecating and … proves himself once again to be agreeable company.”
[ GENE SEYMOUR, NEWSDAY ]