CRAVE ONLINE: I know you're a big fan of self-deprecating humor, so this was obviously a chance to do that, with bumping into the wall and spoofing the cool guy. How did you approach scenes like that and is that something you get to do in the Witch Mountain movie also?
Dwayne Johnson: Approaching scenes like that, well, I love self-deprecating comedy, it's my favorite kind of comedy, and I think that if there's ways that we can do that and inject that in some of these movies, that's great. In the Witch Mountain movie, sure, there's a lot of self-deprecating comedy as well, and I think if I can find, strike a balance between finding some arrogance with the characters, regardless of whether he's successful or doesn't have much, like in Witch Mountain, a cab driver in Las Vegas, but still try to find a balance of a guy who has a little bit of arrogance yet it's not offensive, and he's a little endearing and he can be funny. I always try and find that balance where we can.
CRAVE ONLINE: Were you a fan of the original series?
Dwayne Johnson: I watched the show when I was a kid and I was a big fan of the show. When they first said they were going to remake Get Smart and make it into a movie, I think immediately our reactions are, and the natural understanding reaction is like, "Oh, here we go, you're messing with something that's great. You've got to be careful." But the material was great, all the elements came together, it was a director who I wanted to work with for some time, I really enjoyed Pete's work in the past, and Carell, of course, I love. And Anne Hathaway came on and the Alan Arkin signed on, which was wonderful, so it kind of all fell together.
CRAVE ONLINE: What were your favorite things about the series?
Dwayne Johnson: The coolest thing for me about the Get Smart series was always the, was always the comedy, and what I mean by that was always just the self-deprecating comedy, I love that. Because even with the iconic character that Don Adams created, there was still a great sense of, assuredness to him, and he was a little bit arrogant in his way and of course it was always self-deprecating also, but of course he would always get the job done too, he was very proficient as well.
CRAVE ONLINE: Were you attracted to Agent 99?
Dwayne Johnson: Who wasn't? Yeah, sure. Either of them. Well, because I know Annie now personally, I think Annie's great. She's beautiful and intelligent and you know, she can kick ass too, so, it's what I like in a woman.
CRAVE ONLINE: What kind of secret agent do you think you'd make?
Dwayne Johnson: Oh, I can keep many secrets, so I would be a phenomenal secret agent. I love secrets.
CRAVE ONLINE: Would it be a secret if everybody knows you?
Dwayne Johnson: That's a great point. I would have to go incognito I think.
CRAVE ONLINE: Now you like self-deprecating comedy but are you comfortable with Steve Carell's style of deadpan comedy?
Dwayne Johnson: You know, it's funny, I honestly, I never got Steve Carell's comedy, and it was just one of those things… Only kidding. No. I love Steve Carell. Of course, I was a really big fan of the show and I was a big fan of the original show too, Ricky Gervais. But Steve was great to work with, and you know the great thing is, we were all funny in our way, and merging all of us together on the set and in this movie was great, we all learned from each other, and all the dynamics really meshed well. And you guys know this because you cover a lot of movies, but a lot of times when you get a lot of actors with different personalities they don't always mesh that well, but I think everything meshed really well and we just had a great time. Between Steve Carell and Alan Arkin, especially Alan Arkin, they are Titans to me, and they were great to be around and great to learn from. It's like being around your favorite professor or your favorite family member, your grandfather, who's telling you great stories. That's what those guys were. And you know, Alan in particular, Steve was as well, but Alan in particular, just very gracious not only with his comedy but just very gracious with his time. Especially with me because it was like sit down, let me ask you questions. Really, jeez, more questions. I was like yes. He's great though.
CRAVE ONLINE: The action must have been right up there with your other big movies. How hard was it to shoot the final scene on the railroad tracks?
Dwayne Johnson: Well, it was all me and it was Steve's double. That was, again, the length I go as an actor. Some guys just don't want to commit themselves. [Joking] No, that was a lot of fun to do, and I think with a movie like this, everybody was so excited to come together and actually do the action. And Steve, those guys are committed actors. Steve and Anne Hathaway, they did a lot of their own stunts. I think they might have done most of their own stunts. And it was great to do. You get a director who really wants to put together some great action, we had a great stunt coordinator too, as well, and then I think when you have all those elements coming together, there are some great action movies out there that have raised the bar. I always talk about them. From the Bond movies, the last Bond movie to the Bourne series, was tremendous. And especially the summer, this is a pretty good summer with some pretty good, high quality action stuff, so you want to make some action sequences that compete.
CRAVE ONLINE: Was there any point that you felt it was too dangerous and you let the stunt guys take over?
Dwayne Johnson: No, because I felt very safe and comfortable in the environment with the stunt coordinator and his team of people around us, making sure everything was safe. But you know, that was a great stunt, and if you're into stunts and physicality like that as an actor, you look for days like that. We're on a railroad track and we were going 50, 60 miles an hour. We were harnessed into the SUV, and having our fight scene as the car's going that fast. Not only is it challenging, but again I think the key with that is to make sure that the actors feel safe and comfortable. And with the stunt coordinator we had and his team, everybody felt very safe and again we were harnessed in, buckled, we really weren't going anywhere, and then you lay out the fight scene and you rehearse it a little while and you get on that camera car and go.
CRAVE ONLINE: With Race to Witch Mountain, are you moving to the next level in your career path?
Dwayne Johnson: Well, that's always the goal. Especially for me, too, because when I first started acting in movies, I think it was in 2000, my background wasn't in theater and my parents weren't movie executives so I didn't have that connection. But I thought I did have pretty good instincts and I loved the entertainment world and I loved performing in the world that I came from, just in terms of television. That world I think that benefited me greatly. Just that type of four hours of television every week was my theater. I was able to perform in front of large audiences, 20, 30,000 people at a time, really a guerilla style of shooting that we'd do. So the goal is to always grow and the goal too is to always have a really large degree of movies that go from genre to genre to genre. I love the idea of having the ability to go from action to drama to comedy, back to action comedy or back to drama, and hopefully find a little bit of success in all of these movies. I think about actors who I really admire who have had that type of career that I really aspire to have, like your Tom Hanks and your Will Smith and George Clooney, these guys who have a really wide foundation of work that they do. I love the idea of having that ability, and you step up to home plate and you don't always hit a home run. Sometimes you do, sometimes you fail, but the goal for me is to be that type of actor and to continue to grow and entertain. With a movie like Witch Mountain, again, it's with Disney and I love that and I love the elements we're able to combine: a contemporary action movie, take some of my grittiness and intensity of the past that I've done in my action movies, and combine them with elements that frankly that I really love and appreciate, like family and heart and humor and touch of fantasy. I love that.
CRAVE ONLINE: Where is the grit and action in a Disney movie?
Dwayne Johnson: Well, it's set now, it's a contemporary action comedy, family adventure, too, you could also call it. And we set it in Vegas and I'm a cab driver in Vegas, and of course the two kids with the powers, they get in my cab and then the race is on. We really treated the movie like a Disney ride, so from the moment you get on, the ride begins, it happens just like that. Hence the title, Race to Witch Mountain. We played around with a couple of titles, we wanted that title, it was very fitting for the movie and there's really a relentless drive with the movie. It happens right away, just in terms of the race, and for me, I love the idea of a guy who doesn't have much now, but he's made a lot of mistakes along the way, and he gets the opportunity to make a decision that is a very defining decision that happens to allow him to save the world.
CRAVE ONLINE: Looking back, who really helped you crossover from wrestling?
Dwayne Johnson: There was one particular guy who I've talked about. His name was Pat Patterson, who I modeled my character in Be Cool after him, very proud, gay man, very funny guy, and he's like a father figure to me. So he was that guy where creatively we spent a lot of time together, and making sure that at the end of the day I understood the value of just wanting to simply entertain and taking ego out of it. And I think when you approach anything like that and you take your ego out of it, because ego is the great inhibitor a lot of times to success, you take your ego out of it and you go, "I just want to entertain, and what's the best thing for the audience? How can I make the audience laugh? How can I make them angry or upset, and take them through, really, a myriad of emotions?" So between him, and I also worked with a great writer, too, [Brian Gewirtz], who I consistently challenged. The great thing about that world, was just in terms of being creative in the writing. What was important to me was to always find humor in that world, because at that time there really wasn't a lot of humor in that world of heightened conflict, over the top conflict. So I just wanted to find humor. So in challenging him, what was great was we got to a point where I would say to him, "There's really nothing you can write that I think we can't make work." I always think that's a great place to be. So that's why. I would write just so much and then in front of 20, 30,000 people, there's an acumen that you have to have because it keeps you on your toes. If the joke is phenomenal and it goes through the roof and 30,000 people love it, then you know immediately. If it bombs and it completely stinks up the place and you need to get out of there immediately, then you know that immediately too. How did I make the transition? I just thought that making the transition was number one, surrounding myself with good actors. Even in my first role as Scorpion King we had Michael Clark Duncan, we had Grant Heslov, who's a great writer now too, as well, Bernard Hill. We had some great actors, and help, and a studio I think that supported me, and a good director, too, that's going to help me. Through that, I think that I had to be fully prepared, as prepared as I possibly could be. It's not that I was going to deliver an Oscar worthy performance. I knew that wasn't going to happen, but as long as I could be prepared and give the best performance I could give, then I had a shot at it being decent.
CRAVE ONLINE: Have you sized down a little sinze your wrestling days?
Dwayne Johnson: Well, sure. I think there was just no need for me to carry all that weight, and a lot of that weight was from football. I played football for ten years. I wrestled for an additional five, and a lot of that weight was still there. Then once I got out of that and started to change my training around depending on the role, then eventually I just lost weight and kind of trimmed down a little bit.
CRAVE ONLINE: Can you give us an update on Shazzam? Might it actually be happening?
Dwayne Johnson: Yeah, I think so. Whenever you talk to Pete Segal, ask him, because I've been bothering him every month, what's happening with it? But on both ends, there's just so much going on. I think they continue to write and rewrite that script. I would love to. I would love to play Black Adam.
CRAVE ONLINE: So you don't have any update?
Dwayne Johnson: No, I wish I did. I don't. That's why I said, if you talk to him, ask him, he probably has a better update on it.
