Dwayne Johnson on his return to his action roots. by Fred Topel
Nov 23, 2010
craveonline

Dwayne Johnson is back in action with Faster, a revenge thriller about a Driver (Johnson) going after the gang that betrayed him and killed his brother. He gave a press conference about the film over the weekend. Here’s what I got to ask him and what I got from the other questions he answered.

First, the Fred questions:

Crave Online: How do you perfect the perfect stare and how do you decide which stare to use on which bad guy?

Dwayne Johnson: Watching a lot of Clint Eastwood. That was one of the great welcome challenges of the movie and the script that these guys wrote was the challenge of trying to hold an audience without saying many words, if any at all.

Crave Online: Do you practice in front of a mirror?

Dwayne Johnson: Depending on the bad guy, yeah. No, no. It just comes with prep. Again I give a lot of credit to George [Tillman Jr.] who’s one of the most prepared directors I’ve ever been around, doing his diligence and talking about the scene every day and just doing a lot of talking and communicating about it. So by the time you’re ready to shoot, regardless of who the bad guy is, whether it’s Billy, whether it’s Adewale, whoever it is, you’re ready.

Can you believe, The Rock is bigger in Faster than he’s been in years?

Dwayne Johnson: I worked my butt off for this movie and it was a role I was excited about playing. It fit with the character who was incarcerated for 10 years. 9 ½ of those years were in solitary confinement. In the prison population, in that environment, the type of training that they do is very unsophisticated training, moving weight. There’s a density to a lot of prisoners’ muscularity when they train like that over a period of years. Talking with George I was able to train like that and again, worked my butt off for the role.

Details on the workout routine:

Dwayne Johnson: I think it was about three and a half months of training, but it was maybe ten or twelve pounds of training. Again, I think in prison culture, when those guys train and you watch them train, we had the great fortune of sitting down with a couple of individuals who had served a lot of time in maximum security prisons for a variety of crimes including murder, getting into their psyche, their thought process, and their perspective on what it’s like to take another man’s life. But them training itself from prison in a prison yard, it’s a raw type of training. So probably about three and a half months.

Driver just kills everybody on his list. Does that make him a hero?

Dwayne Johnson: Well, when I read the script I didn’t think of him as a hero, nor did I think of him as just a cold blooded killer. I thought of him as a man who was tortured and there was a lot of turmoil going on. As he discovers things along the way, we as an audience discover things along the way too as well. That which he thought would bring him gratification by killing these men who killed his brother just brings him more pain. He thought he had a 10-year-old son, finds out that his son was aborted. Thought that his dad was alive and he was behind the murder and he went to kill him and his dad was already dead. On top of that, being presented with the opportunity to understand the power of forgiveness by the end of the film with Adewale [Akinnuoye-Agbaje], The Evangelist. So I looked at him as a man who I felt connected to in a way where the notion of you took something from me, something that I loved and the only thing that loved me, my family. Now you’re going to pay. I would go to the ends of the earth to protect my family. I think we all would. That was something that resonated with me. I read the script and I immediately connected with that man, just again the man who would do anything to protect his family, the only family he had.

That scene with The Evangelist was intense. Look for it.

Dwayne Johnson: It’s my favorite scene in the movie. Was it easy to shoot? It was an emotional day for all of us. George was right there all day. We were fortunate to shoot that at the end of the movie so me personally had already gone through the journey with Billy Bob and with George and with Adewale and with a lot of the other characters so by the time we got to that moment, we were ready and prepared. I was pretty moved by the emotion that was conjuring up there. I knew it was an emotional scene because these guys really did such a tremendous job of writing it. To put it on its feet, Adewale is really such a great actor, really a commanding presence. When he got down on his knees and started singing, I was moved so the tears were real. It’s really special when you can have scenes like that.

Now come on, after all those Disney movies, it must have been nice to kick ass again.

Dwayne Johnson: It wasn’t necessarily important to me to go back and kick ass or I had to make an R rated movie. It was just a matter of getting good material that really resonated with me that I had been waiting for for some time. I enjoyed the work I’ve done in the past, when it was Disney or some of the other studios I worked with doing comedies or family movies. The philosophy has always been pretty clean and straightforward which is if I see something that I like and I can see its value to the audience, its value to me then I’m going to take my shot at it, regardless of the genre. This happened to come along at a time that I had been waiting for something like this for a long time, something I could sink my teeth into. It came along, I read it, I loved it and wanted to do it.

Faster is real too.

Dwayne Johnson: It’s really so nice to be part of the movie and part of a story that is rooted and grounded in today’s world of dazzling special effects and CGI, and I can appreciate those movies – I’ve done them myself, but it was nice as an actor to be part of that type of rooted, grounded reality and have all the action, attention and motivation across the board, whether it’s physical, killing, communicating with a son, whatever it may be, fueled by emotion. Everything was just fueled by emotion, so it was very very nice and refreshing.

The Rock really drove the GTO and the Chevelle.

Dwayne Johnson: Well, the stunt driving school was necessary. In talking it over with George, we thought it was a good idea and important for the film in terms of its authenticity to tie me into all of these shots and not cut away to a stunt double. If that’s the case, if that’s the goal, then you have to prepare. I think it paid off and I think it’s going to pay off for the audience because I’m tied into all the shots. I enjoy driving the cars. It reminds me of one of the fun parts of my job. I love the Chevelle. I was in the Chevelle more. The Chevelle became the character’s home, his family. I loved driving it, loved driving it.

The Rock is still ready to take over when Arnold and Sly finally retire.

Dwayne Johnson: Absolutely. [Laughs] Sure. Action for me, the genre has always been my home. I’m a physical guy. I love that and I enjoy it but it was also important for me to have a diverse career. I didn’t want to be defined 10 years ago. This is my 10^th year now. 10 years ago I didn’t want to be defined or pigeonholed, “So you’re the action guy or the comedy guy or the family guy.” I wanted to do everything, take my shot at it and hopefully give good, solid performances and hopefully get better over time. Working with actors like Billy Bob helped me elevate my game and working with directors and great material, if I could come in and find material like this and step back into the action genre and do well and always remember that the goal is to dominate.

Maybe a collaboration with The Transporter someday.

Dwayne Johnson: Oh sure, there’s always a chance of that down the line. I love Jason. We’re buddies.

Can you believe it’s been 10 years since The Rock started making movies?

Dwayne Johnson: I’ve gotten to know you guys over the years and I’ve enjoyed my time. For me it’s always come down to I’ve enjoyed the movies that I’ve done and I enjoy talking about them. They may not be for everyone. Some may like them or may not like them, whatever the case may be. I genuinely enjoy the things that I’ve done and enjoy talking about it. And by the way, and sharing criticisms too back and forth. I’m open to that. For me it’s always been important to have a private life and keep things pretty simple core at home. But I’ve always been pretty open too about answering any questions.

Maybe Driver will return.

DJ: I’m so happy with the movie and how it turned out, and the movie that we created and made, that we’re putting out there. I think the material does lend itself possibly coming back a second time, I think audiences will dictate that, and we have great writers and if the story’s right, then I’d never rule anything out, open and flexible to it.

Will The Rock ever return to WWE?

Dwayne Johnson: I would love to, it’s just a matter of finding the time, but I’m always communicating with those guys, always communicating with Vince.

And a little scoop on Fast Five

Dwayne Johnson: We wrapped that already. We introduce a new character. We’re looking for a formidable opponent to hunt down Vin.

Q: Does your character drive?

Dwayne Johnson: Yeah.

Q: Has your driving training helped?

Dwayne Johnson: Yes.

Q: Do you enjoy playing a good guy or a bad guy more?

Dwayne Johnson: I just enjoy the material, so if the material’s moving, whether it’s a good guy or a bad guy or if it’s ambiguous.