Metro.co.uk | May 28th

Dwayne Johnson, 38, achieved fame in the 1990s as the professional wrestler known as The Rock. He later turned to acting, starring in Hollywood films including The Mummy Returns, Be Cool and Get Smart. He sports a tutu for his role in new film Tooth Fairy.

Your biceps are bigger than my thighs. Can I ask what you ate for lunch?
I had some chicken. I generally bring my own meals with me. I have someone great who prepares very detailed food.

Such as?
I generally eat clean. I don’t eat fried food or fast food or anything like that. I was raised in that environment from an early age. I think if you never really had it, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Isn’t pizza your cheat item?
It is. I love pizza. Sure. That’s my thing.

You worked with Julie Andrews and Stephen Merchant in Tooth Fairy. Do you have a particular fondness for Brits?
I definitely do for this movie. I enjoyed working with Stephen Merchant. He was wonderful. I’ve been such a big fan of his acting. I had no idea he was Ricky Gervais’s writing partner and responsible for a lot of the shows they had written. I specifically wanted Stephen because he was so talented in Extras and I thought the physical juxtaposition between he and I would be funny on screen. Then, of course, I came to find out he’s incredibly brilliant and talented. And Julie Andrews was amazing. A beautiful, beautiful woman.

Do you remember when you stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy and Father Christmas?
No, I don’t but interestingly enough my mum and dad did a really cool thing for me when I was eight. I started questioning Santa Claus so they called him and created a special visit at about 6pm. There was all this ringing of bells and loud noise. I looked outside and Santa Claus had shown up with my favourite toy that I had been talking about for the past couple of months. He sat me down on his lap and said: ‘I heard you don’t believe in me any more.’ I was blown away – and by the way, I was probably 5ft 10in when I was eight and sitting on his lap. So that extended the belief for a couple of years.

Would you lose your muscles for a part?
Sure, absolutely.

Wouldn’t it be hard to get them back?
No, not necessarily. Your muscles generally have a really good memory if you take care of them. But the material I get generally lends itself to my physique. I’m not getting a lot of suicidal accountant roles coming to me.

Did you see Mickey Rourke’s film, The Wrestler?
I did. I loved it. I thought it was fantastic. That movie resonated with me because that’s something I know intimately. That man was a lot of members of my own family. I’ve come from a long line of professional wrestlers and at that time, in the 1970s and 1980s, it was a very tough business. There wasn’t a lot of great financial planning going on back then. There was a lot of free spending and you find guys now in their fifties and sixties who are still trying to do it, still trying to have autograph sessions, trying to make money any way they can. Some of my uncles are still doing that and one of them trained Mickey for the movie.

Weren’t you a bit of a bad boy once?
Oh, I got in trouble a lot when I was younger. By the time I was 16, I had been arrested eight or nine times for a variety of things, terrible things that I shouldn’t have been doing. But I had people in my life who saw the potential in me when I didn’t see it. Much later in life, once I got out of college, I started to understand the power of seeing your potential and what that means.

Could you ever imagine needing some fairy amnesia dust?
I would love to use the amnesia dust. For a specific purpose. I’ve been in some relationships in the past and said some really ridiculous things to ex-girlfriends that I wish I could take back. Or make them forget.