A Fearless Rock

As A Gay Bodyguard In `Be Cool,’ He Takes A Chance Without Trying To Offend

LOS ANGELES — The Rock, who plays a gay bodyguard in “Be
Cool,” hopes he doesn’t land in hot water with the gay community.

The former pro wrestling king who became “The Scorpion King” says he
took the role in the action comedy, opening Friday, because he wanted to be
fearless and experience the actors’ rush of “jumping off a cliff.”
The Rock’s Elliot looks tough watching the back of a goofy gangsta wannabe,
but all he really wants is to be in the movies. He recites a monologue from the
cheerleading film “Bring It On” and wears a satin cowboy outfit in a
video for Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Steal My Man).”

This is not your Vince McMahon Rock.

Asked if he feared causing offense, The Rock answers, “I hope I don’t
because it was important for me from the get-go that I didn’t want to turn
anything into a mockery or a `Saturday Night Live’ skit. I wanted to try and
play it as straight as I possibly could, no pun intended.”

The Rock, 32, married with a daughter, says he had a positive gay role model in
one of his mentors, Pat Patterson, whom he describes as an out, strong and
truthful gay man “who, by the way, I’ve literally seen kick a lot of
people’s asses.”

“Be Cool,” the sequel to 1994′s “Get Shorty,” pokes fun at
The Rock, though. The raised right eyebrow he patented in his wrestling persona
is used as Elliott’s one-note talent. He says he likes to make fun of himself
but rebuffs a suggestion that Elliott is muscle-bound in his head. The Rock sees
him as a genuine depiction of a Thespian wannabe, just like he was. Only the
Rock did not have to shove r?sum?s and headshots into the hands of anybody who
knew somebody.

“I was really, really lucky,” he says. “I was on that [wrestling]
stage for four hours on national television every week. It wasn’t like all of a
sudden I was doing `The Mummy Returns’ and happened to get noticed.”

It is hard not to notice The Rock, also known as Dwayne Johnson. Dressed in a
blue dress shirt and navy blazer for this interview at a Century City hotel, he
exudes a gentle giant’s coiled tranquility. His Samoan and Afro Canadian
heritage have sculpted an exotic action-hero look, but he is not stopping there.

After years of over-the-top image-making in pro wrestling, The Rock is smoothing
the rough edges. He takes acting lessons. He has scrapped the habit of talking
about himself in the third person. And he already is a box-office force,
commanding an eight-figure salary per leading role. “The Scorpion
King” (2002), an effects-laden spin-off of “The Mummy Returns,”
cleared $164,529,000 at the international box office. “The Rundown”
(2003), in which he plays a bounty hunter, and the remake of “Walking
Tall” (2003), featuring him as a sheriff, both made about $47 million
domestically.

Perhaps the greatest validation of his arrival was that he was a mark on MTV’s
“Punk’d.” Producers blew up his trailer on the set of “Be
Cool,” and The Rock says in the chaotic aftermath he shoved who he thought
was a police officer.

He is done wrestling for now. His contract quietly expired at the end of last
year and his management team was congratulating him on a career well done. All
that was missing was a gold watch. “It hit me like a ton of bricks,”
says the Rock, who added that the door is open for his return.

At the moment, that seems doubtful. He has a handful of movies lined up,
including the video-game inspired “Doom” coming out this summer and an
upcoming drama with him as a counselor for hardened young criminals in
“Gridiron Gang.”

Besides, how can one return to grappling with sweaty co-stars in the ring when
you can act with John Travolta? In “Be Cool,” Travolta reprises his
“Get Shorty” role of mobster Chili Palmer, who transfers his
strong-armed tactics from the movie business to the music business. Once The
Rock became comfortable, he found himself asking Travolta about specific scenes
in “Grease” and “Urban Cowboy” between takes.

“He’s such a warm guy,” The Rock says. “Very supportive. Here is
this icon, this legend. It was a thrill for me.”

Unlike another buff outsider named Schwarzenegger, who dreamed of a future in
blockbusters long before he moved to Hollywood, The Rock had no such aspirations
early on. He was born in Hayward, Calif., and moved to Bethlehem, Pa., where he
became a high school football star. He then played at the University of Miami
and signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League for a
season before the family business called.

The Rock is a third-generation wrestler and he ruled the stage during the
sport’s surge in popularity during the ’90s. Two guest stints on “Saturday
Night Live” and a one-time gig on “That ’70s Show” showed
presence beyond arena strutting.

Now he wants to diversify. Playing a gay henchman might not be jumping off a
cliff but in the realm of Hollywood typecasting, it’s a big step off the curb.

“It was an opportunity to play a conflicted guy in a world that he didn’t
want to be in,” The Rock says, “but at the same time who felt he had
something to offer the world through song and dance. … He’s a gay man who was
proud by the end of the movie and embraced even more being gay.”
credit: Hartford Courant