Slow West an epic frontier story, is set in Colorado but was shot in the South Island. Photo / Supplied
Slow West an epic frontier story, is set in Colorado but was shot in the South Island. Photo / Supplied
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is giving his career a shake-up with a disaster movie, a comedy series, and a singing role in Taika Waititi’s Disney musical. He talks to
Leena Tailor.
The things you can't help noticing when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson enters the room are his arms - the diameter of each bicep appearing larger than two average calves.
That physique has helped the 1.96m, 118kg former WWF wrestler monopolise Hollywood's tough guy market and rank among the industry's highest-paid stars with a slew of action gigs on
Yet, as he talks about preparing to shoot a Disney musical written by Taika Waititi, and recounts tales of being petrified during earthquakes, it's clear the 43-year-old action hero is a softie inside.
His latest flick, San Andreas, sees him play a daring helicopter hero as disaster strikes along the Californian faultline, but his own quake experiences have turned him into a quivering mess.
"I've experienced a small one in Los Angeles. [It] was strong at first then subsided, but immediately everything gets heightened. I was by a big, glass wall and ran around in circles going, 'Where do I go?'
"You immediately think, 'Where's my family? Where's my daughter? Where's my girlfriend?''
San Andreas, written by Lost co-creator Carlton Cuse and directed by Brad Peyton, marks the first major quake movie since 1974's Earthquake.
"The goal was to make a movie that felt authentic and real, as if an actual 9.6 happened - immerse the audience in a way that was riveting, relentless and grabbed you," says Johnson.
"What made the script more compelling was the opportunity to make a movie that hasn't been made in decades about the biggest earthquake of all time - do our version of it."
Filmmakers consulted with seismologists and the Southern California Earthquake Centre before heading into production, while Johnson trained with rescue pilots so he could perform his own stunts.
Carla Gugino plays his estranged wife, and Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue also stars alongside - despite the title the movie was mostly shot in Australia. "She did great in the movie - really phenomenal. Her scene is critical to kick the movie off when the earthquake hits, and she was great."
San Andreas is one of two projects starring Johnson out this month.
He's also starring in HBO comedy series Ballers, from the creators of Entourage, in which he stars as a retired football star turned sports agent to players in the Miami Dolphins. Johnson played football at the University of Miami, then professionally in the Canadian league before he took to pro wrestling.
"The idea is to take Entourage and set it in the world of NFL and sport. It's a very well-written, cool show and I think audiences are going to like it a lot."
Which brings us to his next major project - Disney Polynesian princess animated musical Moana, written by Waititi.
In the film Moana teams up with Maui (Johnson) in search of an island in the South Pacific.
The project had extra pull for him given his cultural background - his mother is Samoan and, while staying with his mum's family as a child in New Zealand, he briefly went to Richmond Road Primary School.
Johnson says that cultural heritage was "everything" when it came to signing on to the movie.
"It's rare that my agent says, 'You should sit down.' When we got together I was standing up and eating, so I sit down and he goes, 'Moana, musical, animation movie, Disney, Pixar, you're the lead. What do you think?' "I went, 'I'm in.'
"When you do a movie with Disney, especially when it's musical animation, their research is so extensive.
"The writers and directors went to all the Polynesian islands and, in Samoa for example, they spent time not just where the commercial areas are, but going deep into the villages, spending time with the elders and understanding the culture, the tattoos and the power and richness of it all.
"Then you go to the Disney offices and it's like Willy Wonka. When they have a whole room dedicated to their next project, you know it's massive.
