'Hercules' pushes Dwayne Johnson to his limits
By CINDY PEARLMAN Big Picture News Inc.
Dwayne Johnson says his 'Hercules' role required 'weight and substance' that he lacked as a younger actor. | BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
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Dwayne Johnson always had XXL-sized ambitions.
When he first came to Hollywood, the artist then known as The Rock suggested that someone write him a Hercules script - stat.
'I asked about 'Hercules' and 'Walking Tall,' but instead I broke in with 'Scorpion King,' ' he says.
In retrospect, Johnson's glad that he didn't play the legend before his own legend was born. 'I needed to live some life first,' he says. 'This is a role that needs some weight and substance.'
Now, he stars opposite Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes in 'Hercules' directed by Brett Ratner and opening Friday. The film is based on the 2008 Radical Publishing miniseries, 'Hercules: The Thracian Wars.'
Audiences will find Hercules trying to save the world from the descendants of Hades, which requires him to battle a lion and three-headed water monster.
'It was the most physically challenging role I've ever played. It was hours of gym work, eating right and then three hours of hair and makeup a day,' the former wrestler says during a phone interview. 'That was just part of it. Then you put the club into your hand and you feel Hercules enter your blood.'
Johnson says that the film is in the vein of some of his action favorites.
'I think the tone is a nice, even balance,' he says. 'I think of 'Gladiator' and '300.' There's also personality in the movie. There's fun. There's some wink in the movie in a way that makes the audience feel good.'
Getting in even better shape required clean eating and living in a gym. 'I ate about seven to eight meals a day, but they were very special meals that had a strong balance between carbs, proteins, greens and fats.
'Then I worked with a strength and conditioning coach for about an hour and a half a day to get into better shape.'
Growing up in a family that didn't have many extras, Johnson didn't figure on a life of shaping up for the big screen.
He was born in California to wrestler Rocky Johnson and his wife, Ata Johnson. 'The thing is when you're poor you usually don't know it. That is how you live,' he says.
With his heart set on a NFL career, Johnson played high school football and received an athletic scholarship to the University of Miami to play and study criminology. A back injury side-railed him and, after three years in the Canadian League, he was cut and devastated.
'It was one of my lowest moments,' he says. 'When you're told that you just aren't good enough, it's life-changing. Your dream is suddenly gone. You can either give into that pain or move past it and vow to fight harder and reinvent yourself.
'I'm a fighter.'
Next up is 'Fast & Furious 7,' due out in 2015, and a film called 'San Andreas' about the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California. The film also stars Carla Gugino and Colton Haynes.
'I've always wanted to do a disaster film,' he says. 'It was also great to be able to dig into research and talk to real life geologists about quakes.' Johnson plays a rescue-chopper pilot searching for his estranged daughter.
He's also looking for non-action, dramatic roles.
'I want to be able to explore a character's complexities,' he says. 'It's time to take chances and do roles with more layers. I want to show that vulnerable side that's absolutely there, too.'
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