The Smell of Success: Exclusive Interview – Dwayne Johnson
With his latest movie Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,Dwayne Johnson is now a franchise movie star! What began as a modest career in WWE, has transformed into a great movie career. Dwayne has done some great movies throughout his time and keeps adding more under his belt everyday. We caught up with the Superstar to find out a little bit about him and his newest release.
UTHMAG: Dwayne, you’re a co-producer on this, which means you have input into the screenplay. Did you suggest the ‘pec popping’ scene be written into the movie?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: [Laughs] It’s funny. When I first read the script, it was fun. And I wanted to do a big 3D adventure, so it all made sense that I was going to co-produce and get involved.
So, I was on an airplane and I was thinking, gosh, we have James Cameron’s first advanced 3D technology post-Avatar. He did Avatar; he worked on it some more, advanced it more, and we were the first movie out of the gate to utilize it. So, I thought, ‘Well, how can I take his 3D technology and utilize my body in a fun, entertaining way that’s appropriate?’ [Laughs]
So, I was with our producer on the movie, and I said, ‘What if I did something and made my pecs pop in 3D? It might be funny and entertaining, but there’s another level to it, what is it?’ And he was eating nuts on the plane. And he goes, ‘I got it. Throw the nuts, boom, right off into the audience.’
UTHMAG: Tell me about working with Josh and Vanessa. What did they bring to it and were you impressed by their work?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: Yeah, sure, they’re great young actors. I think both of them have had great success. Vanessa, big success early, and both of them very impressive. What was great about Josh was I was able to really have a partner in terms of the action in the movie.
He’s coming into his own. He’s becoming a man, and he’s got great poise as an actor, too. That really impressed me. Young actors always impress me. Making movies is a lot of fun but it’s a lot of hard work, and there are a lot of variables to it. I like those guys a lot and loved making the movie with them.
Dwayne Johnson and Josh Hutcherson in Journey 2
UTHMAG: Do you have any phobias, like lizards or spiders or anything weird that you encountered in Hawaii?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: Well, sure. The spider thing I’ve never liked, but who does though? Not really, no. I grew up here inHawaii, so I was used to everything that was here.
And personally, for me, it was great to come back in this capacity. I was a kid here, 14 years old, getting into trouble, getting arrested. And then finally to be able to come back and bring a movie here to the locals and the local businesses is very special to me.
UTHMAG: Coming back; to do this movie must have created a bit of a stir.
DWAYNE JOHNSON: It was a bit of a stir, but it’s all hometown love. And there’s just a great spirit that everyone talks about, the Aloha spirit, which I’m always very proud of.
UTHMAG: What was it like visiting your high school?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: Visiting the high school was awesome. I haven’t been there since I was 14-15 years-old. I visited my high school unannounced. I wanted to go to where the football field was and where the weight room was where I spent so much time and where I understood the value or started to understand the value of discipline and hard work. I went there and word spread very quickly. All the students gathered around and I had a quick word with them afterwards.
UTHMAG: You were something of a troublemaker back then. When you were driving around, did you pass any places that brought back some of those memories?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: I did. I did, yeah. And that became my reflective moment as I’m driving through town and looking at all the places that I got in trouble. And I was very fortunate at that time that I had great parents who were patient. And I also had a couple of coaches at that time who believed in my potential, even when I didn’t. And that’s an admirable thing to do, I think, in any coach or any adult figure in someone’s life to a kid who’s getting in trouble. ‘I see your potential.’ So, I’m grateful about that.
UTHMAG: Was it your idea to do the ukulele song in the movie, and how much are you into your music now?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: I love music. I grew up in a musical family, and that’s what happens, I think. In the Polynesian culture, people love to play ukulele. They love to sing. They love to dance Polynesian dances. And that was a big part of our growing up.
With this movie, that was the fun part about creating this character from scratch compared to just dropping in and dropping out of the movie—trying to think of moments. What’s another fun moment for the audience? There’s enough tension in the movie when the island is sinking, so where can we find some nice levity. So, it was my idea to sing, where we would play the ukulele, and, of course, we gave the ukulele to Luis Guzmán’s character. The fun part was coming up with the song. There’s a famous Hawaiian singer, his name is Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, and he’s from here inHawaii. He has since passed away. It’s a very long name. But his name is Big IZ.
Big IZ, beautiful voice. And there’s a song called Somewhere Over the Rainbow that he did. His version of it is beautiful. He also did What a Wonderful World. So, I thought what if we took What a Wonderful World and played it in my tempo on the ukulele compared to picking it like he did, and change the second verse around to fit the riding on giant bees. ‘You look older than Yoda,’ or whatever the line was.
UTHMAG: Were you free-styling?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: I did and our other producer came up with it. The big band version we sang as well.
UTHMAG: It was really surprising with all those notes that they were all you.
DWAYNE JOHNSON: Aw, thank you. I love music and I grew up loving music. And I love Hawaiian music. I love blues. I love country, traditional country.
UTHMAG: You’ve had had some hard times in life. Do you ever think, ‘I can’t believe this is my life now?’
DWAYNE JOHNSON: Every day. Every day in some form or fashion I have a moment of gratitude. And I’m lucky, I’m lucky. I believe in hard work, and I believe hard works pays. And that’s a mantra that I have, hard work pays, in many ways. There’s great value in that but also a little bit of luck, too.
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