THE ROCK is just finishing off a text when he pops up on my screen. “Be there in 20 minutes,” he says aloud to himself before hitting send and looking up at me. “How you doing, man?” he says with a wide smile.
The Rock, or to use his given name, Dwayne Johnson, is standing in his home office, a bright, inviting space into which afternoon sunlights pours through French doors. Next to Johnson is a life-sized replica of what looks like a T-REX skull, an unapologetically masculine office paperweight, but befitting of a man who calls himself The Rock. Behind him on a shelf are bottles of his tequila, Teremana. Johnson is wearing a tight-fitting black Project Rock muscle tee, with tattoos creeping out the sleeves onto his mountainous biceps. He’s also wearing red shorts and occasionally grabs at his knee. It probably goes without saying, but he is in awesome shape.
It’s the third time I’ve interviewed Johnson, though this is the first occasion we’ve been able to see each other. I tell him it’s good to put a face to his name. He laughs obligingly. “You, too. I was always wondering what the fuck Ben looks like.” I hope he’s not disappointed.
Johnson is here to talk about his new film, (in cinemas Oct. 20), a passion project he’s been attached to for 15 years. It’s a notable addition to Johnson’s canon for a number of reasons. Firstly, as many have posited in relation to Tom Cruise, you wonder if Johnson is too big a star for comic-book fare? Is the power of his personality and the wattage of his charisma somehow neutered in spandex? Time will tell on that one. Secondly, the film required the most likeable and arguably most popular actor of his generation to play an anti-hero. Finally, it required him to get in
