Dwayne Johnson may be ready to Rock out

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/e.../8331103.htm?1c

 

Dwayne Johnson may be ready to Rock out

 

Acting gigs give part-time wrestler cause to use his own name

 

By WESLEY MORRIS

 

The Boston Globe

 

 

Most mysteries about the Rock are easily solved. He's racially ambiguous, for example, only if one fails to ask. His father is African-American and his mother Samoan, thank you. Is he a professional wrestler or a movie actor? For now, he's sort of both.

 

But there is one unsolved mystery that has been bothering him lately: He's not sure who he is. The Rock or Dwayne Johnson? Dwayne Johnson or the Rock? His momma calls him Dwayne, but should the millions … and millions … of wrestling fans who've paid to see him in “The Scorpion King” and “The Rundown” and who'll probably pay again when “Walking Tall” opens?

 

“Four years ago, when I broke into film and some project started happening, I was starting to think about what kind of actor I wanted to be,” Johnson says. “And I just don't want to be a celebrity who crosses into film and does a bunch of movies while he's hot. I wanted to become a decent actor, immersing myself in the craft. Then I started to think about the name, like what happens when I do a romantic comedy? And my delusion kicked in: the Rock and Halle Berry'?”

 

Johnson is affable and animated, a gentleman in the classic manners sense. It takes a few minutes for the apologies for his tardiness to an interview to stop; if you're used to him shouting to stadiums packed with 11,000 people, his soft, measured speaking voice is almost jarring; and you're left with the impression that he's last off the elevator not because he's the biggest person in it but because it's simply polite. He stands, goateed, at a hard-to-miss 6-foot-5, his body under a shirt and jeans closer to the University of Miami football player he used to be than the wrestler he is.

 

Johnson's burgundy shirt is open to the center of his chest, partially revealing an elaborate new Polynesian tattoo. He doesn't want his size to intimidate people he won't be elbowing, so he's candid and self-deprecating in the way that some self-consciously large (or famous) people can be.

 

It was possible to think that Johnson had given up on wrestling. Movie shoots, promotion, and his wife and 2-year-old daughter mean his appearances in the ring tend to be minimal to nonexistent. The “Walking Tall” remake was his idea. He wanted to do something in the key of Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and Paul Newman when they played mild men forced into machismo.

 

The “Walking Tall” of 1973 and its two sequels were part of the decade's vigilante mood. It told the story of the law enforcement icon Buford Pusser, the real-life sheriff whom the movie made famous for cleaning up his little Tennessee town with a two-by-four. In the first film, Joe Don Baker played Pusser as a soft-spoken and reluctant but ultimately righteous reformer. Johnson decided to lose the name.

 

Johnson's character is called, more convincingly, Chris Vaughn, a man who's home from an unspecified war. There's an interesting parallel between Vaughn's return and the hard time his old pals give him and Johnson's sporadic returns to the WWE.

 

Johnson agrees with a laugh. Obviously, the flak he gets from his wrestling peers is not as drastic as the welcome home his “Walking Tall” character gets, but not everybody in the WWE is pulling for him.

 

“I don't get that from the entire crew, just from a handful of guys who, interestingly enough, are at the top now,” Johnson says. “But most guys are genuinely excited. They come up to me, and they're like, ‘Hey, I saw “The Rundown”! Congratulations!' But you're going to get negativity from some people. That's just the nature of this business.”

 

So the question arises: At what point does he stop making WWE-friendly action flicks and really begin to challenge himself as a movie star? When does Vince McMahon, the WWE's steely P.T. Barnum turned Dino DeLaurentiis, stop executive-producing Johnson's movies?

 

Johnson, now 31, knows he could be a lucrative action-movie pinup until he's 50. The alternatives seem to make him both nervous and excited. He just finished shooting the show-biz comedy “Be Cool,” the sequel to “Get Shorty.” Opposite John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Harvey Keitel, he's playing a gay Samoan bodyguard named Elliot who really wants to be a singer.

 

“My goal with wanting this movie was not, ‘Let me take a break from the action thing,' ” Johnson says. “It was, ‘Let me work with these amazing actors and test my timing.' ”

[Guest Choken One]

Damn...

 

I had my hopes all set for THE ROCK IN CONCERT III.

[2GOLD 0]

He really needs to use his real name cause THE ROCK just screams wrestler and I don't think anyone outside of wrestling will take him serious if they only consider him a wrestler.

 

Use Dwayne Johnson for Spyhunter and Be Cool

[Nighthawk 0]

I always thought he should have used Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

 

As an aside, I like Rock and will be interested in seeing any movies he's in, but I will not watch a romantic comedy with him and Halle Berry.

[MrRant 0]

But that could lead him into Don "The Dragon" Wilson territory.

[2GOLD 0]

But that could lead him into Don "The Dragon" Wilson territory.

 

Well, using "The Dragon" was a mistake since I thought he was Ricky Steamboat for a little while.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I don't care if Rock calls himself "Dwayne The Magic Pixie" as long as we can have him comeback one more time as a heel and always reffer to himself in the third person.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

He should stick with The Rock.

[Scroby 0]

You know either way if Rock changed his name or not he's still going to be known as a wrestler. So I don't see chaning his name having any sort of different impact at all.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

It would take a while for the name-change to get over, but it would eventually.

 

As did WWE.

[Guest Duncan Eternia]

He really needs to use his real name cause THE ROCK just screams wrestler and I don't think anyone outside of wrestling will take him serious if they only consider him a wrestler.

 

Use Dwayne Johnson for Spyhunter and Be Cool

The Rock is still more marketable. People will always know him as the Rock.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Fairly poor comparison, but Hulk Hogan is Hulk Hogan whether in films or wrestling. I don't recall there being a problem where people wanted to call him Terry instead.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Fairly poor comparison, but Hulk Hogan is Hulk Hogan whether in films or wrestling. I don't recall there being a problem where people wanted to call him Terry instead.

Has Hogan ever used the name "Terry Bollea" in credits of movies he's been in? Cause I don't recall or don't wanna suffer the pain of the movie.

[Nighthawk 0]

Yeah, but Rock had no problem using "The Rock" for action comedy flicks. Hogan never did anything more serious, which Rock apparently wants to.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Dwayne isnt exactly a movie star name...maybe he could go with Rocky Johnson or something.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Fairly poor comparison, but Hulk Hogan is Hulk Hogan whether in films or wrestling. I don't recall there being a problem where people wanted to call him Terry instead.

Has Hogan ever used the name "Terry Bollea" in credits of movies he's been in? Cause I don't recall or don't wanna suffer the pain of the movie.

No...but for one of those movies he made for TNT he went by "Terry 'Hulk' Hogan"...

[thuganomics 0]

Hogan's been Terry "Hulk" Hogan for several later crap... I mean movies he made.

 

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is already his name. He made a couple of non-movie related appearances early in the year using that moniker. My guess is the production ads and advertising for Walking Tall was already up with just The Rock, hence him using the shorter name.

[Guest Stunt Granny]

Just for shits and giggles I hope he stops calling himself "The Rock" and the WWE starts calling someone else The Rock, kinda like they did with Diesel and Razor Ramon. ROCK II!!!

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Just for shits and giggles I hope he stops calling himself "The Rock" and the WWE starts calling someone else The Rock, kinda like they did with Diesel and Razor Ramon. ROCK II!!!

Well, the Current "Rock" is actually I think the third man to have that name.

 

Rocky Johnson I think was called "the Rock" a few times.

 

Then there was "The Rock" Don Muraco.

 

So...wouldn't be the first time.

 

...Hehehe...evil thought: Randy "The Rock" Orton.

[Guest TonyJaymzV1]

You know, The Rock has matured as an actor with each film, so I'm all for him to go by Dwayne Johnson, and forego wrestling altogether. Serosuly, each movie of his, he acted better and better, and he seems to actually care about acting, as oppossed to the guys that do it for the money.

 

If there ever was a wrestler I could see winning an oscar, Rock is the man.

[Guest netslob]

dammit, i thought this meant he was gonna quit...FUCK!!

 

shit, it's not like i been watching lately, anyhow...but still, Joe Don Baker has gotta be spinning in his grave..."Walking Tall" remake my white, bloated ass...it's all about Buford T. Pusser, biatch...

[CanadianChris 0]

“I don't get that from the entire crew, just from a handful of guys who, interestingly enough, are at the top now,” Johnson says. “But most guys are genuinely excited. They come up to me, and they're like, ‘Hey, I saw “The Rundown”! Congratulations!' But you're going to get negativity from some people. That's just the nature of this business.”

Wonder wHHHo he's talking about here...

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

He could be the villain in the next Austin Powers movie. He could have a midget sidekick called The Pebble.

[Mole 0]

I'd got with Rock Johnson.

[Guest NaturalBornThriller4:20]

He could be the villain in the next Austin Powers movie. He could have a midget sidekick called The Pebble.

That's his daughter's nickname... Pebbles.

[jester 0]

I don't care if Rock calls himself "Dwayne The Magic Pixie" as long as we can have him comeback one more time as a heel and always reffer to himself in the third person.

"FINALLY...DWAYNE THE MAGIC PIXIE HAS COME BACK TO MIAMI!"

 

"If you smeeeeeeeeellllll what Dwayne the Magic Pixie....has cookin'!"

[Guest Choken One]

I'd got with Rock Johnson.

I'm willing to bet someone in the adult industry has that name.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Joe Don Baker has gotta be spinning in his grave

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO