If the world seemed a little bit sluggish this morning if the birds werent singing as sweetly, or the sun hung a bit lower in the sky it might be because Dwayne Johnson didnt work out.
On any other day, Johnson would be up before dawn, clanging and banging on the 45,000 pounds of equipment in the torture chamber of a home gym he calls his Iron Paradise. But not today. Today Johnson slept in until the downright slothful hour of 6 a.m., in a hotel suite in Beverly Hills under the alias Sam Cooke, where he now sits perusing the newspaper while his longtime girlfriend, Lauren Hashian, enjoys a bowl of room-service granola.
The reason for this uncharacteristic idleness? Johnson and Hashian have a two-year-old daughter, Jasmine, and a second child arriving in a few weeks. Were in the home stretch, says Hashian, rubbing her belly so they left the toddler with the nanny for the night and snuck off for a little romantic getaway. Were getting it in now before its too late. Johnson, padding around the suite in gym socks and a T-shirt that reads BLOOD SWEAT RESPECT, says he and Hashian were originally going to get married this spring in Hawaii. But then we got pregnant, he says. And Mama dont wanna take wedding pictures with a big belly Mama wanna look good. They werent exactly trying to have another baby. We were talking about it, he says. And then all of a sudden I get a text from her with a [picture of a] pregnancy test. Apparently it didnt take much. All I did was look at her, Johnson jokes. Guess what. Youre pregnant. Baby in you now.
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He just gave me the eyebrow, says Hashian. Pew. Heres a baby.
Johnson says hes excited. I had Simone when I was 29 his older daughter, now 16, whom he had with his ex-wife, Dany Garcia, whos now his manager. (They make it work.) Guys dont mature until much, much later, so its nice to be in my fourth level and have babies again. Fourth level thats a new one. Johnson, 45, grins. Its better than saying the actual number.
Do they have a name picked out? I think we do, Hashian says. Were thinking about Tia. Its simple, its Polynesian-ish. And I feel like she might come out looking like a Tia. I mean, she could come out any which way, because were complete opposites shes fair and delicate, hes brown and colossal. I love that name, I tell her.
Yeah? says Johnson, sounding pleased. Thank you. Youre probably the fourth person whos heard it. It was funny we were having dinner with Emily Blunt, who Im getting ready to work with [on Disneys Jungle Cruise], and I said, What do you think of Tia? And she went beat, beat, beat No ones gonna fuck with a Tia Johnson.
Especially not when her father is Dwayne Johnson, roughly the size of a grain elevator. When he was in high school, other kids were suspicious of him because they thought he was an undercover cop. (For the record, a pretty solid pitch for a Dwayne Johnson movie.) Even now, as the most beloved star in Hollywood not named Tom Hanks, Johnson and his giganticness can still give pause. Director Brad Peyton, whos worked with him on three films including the new monster romp Rampage says the first time they met, Johnson was dressed as Hobbs, from the Fast & Furious franchise. I was like, Oh, my God this guy is frighteningly large, Peyton says. I was shitting myself he looked so intimidating. It took me, like, 15 minutes to get over it.
As if to combat this, Johnson carries himself with an abiding gentleness, like a grizzly bear who rolls over so you can rub its belly. On our way to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, we pass a manager who apologizes to him for last night. Oh, its all good! Johnson says. Only after were out of earshot does he reluctantly relate what happened. It turns out when he got back to the suite around 2 a.m., following a long day of work, Hashian was still wide awake, thanks to a mysterious buzzing near the bed. I shut the AC off, we called for earplugs, maintenance came, Johnson says. Finally they had to move us at, like, three in the morning. It was a whole thing.
What a bummer and on their special night, too. One night! Johnson says. He throws his hands up, mock-exasperated. The hits just keep on coming.
They do, actually. Johnson is riding a wave of success as the most bankable star in Hollywood the closest that movies in 2018 have to a sure thing. A recent Wall Street Journal report revealed that his upfront payday for an upcoming film would be $22 million; a source close to Johnson says that figure is low by two bills. But the most surprising part of the news may have been how unsurprising it was: Of course the Rock is worth $20 million-plus. After all, theres a reason last years Jumanji sequel grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide, and all due respect, its not Jack Black.
As producer Beau Flynn, whos made six of Johnsons films, says, even at that price, Dwayne is a massive steal and a bargain.
Hes a freak of nature, says Johnsons Rampage co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It seems like every month hes in a movie and making a killing. In the middle of shooting Rampage, hes off hosting SNL and doing ads for Apple and running for president and whatever else. He works out at 3:30 in the morning so he can get to set on time. I dont know how he does it. And the other thing is, hes a family dude, so not only is he juggling the 9 million things hes got on his plate for work, hes also raising kids and got a happy marriage. Jesus Christ. I kind of fucking hate him.
Spending time with Dwayne Johnson is pretty much as uplifting as youd expect. He will give you a fist bump that makes your humerus vibrate. He will ask your spouse and/or childs name and then make a point to repeat it 17 times. His warmth and enthusiasm will be infectious, and you will leave with newfound inspiration to wake up earlier and exercise more and be kinder to people and also maybe join the Marines? Thats just the kind of guy he is.
When I first met Dwayne, one of the first things he said to me was Lets elevate and dominate, Peyton says. If most people said that, youd be like, Are you kidding me? But when Dwayne says it, Im like, Yes! Elevate and dominate!
Out at Johnsons regular table on the patio, he asks for Fiji water with lemon on the side, then produces an aluminum takeout container. If we could just take that back to the chefs and have it heated and plated, he tells the waitress.
OK, she says. I have to check with them first, because we dont take outside food.
Oh, they will, Johnson says, smiling confidently.
It will be fine? she asks.
It will be fine, he says. And she trusts him, because when Dwayne Johnson tells you something will be fine, it will be.
(A few minutes later, a waiter returns with the heated-up breakfast. I ask what hes having. Right here? he says. This is chopped-up lion heart. Thats buffalo placenta. And these are goat balls. From the Andes. He laughs and shakes his head. So stupid. But, no that actually is buffalo.)
When Johnson was in college, playing football at the University of Miami, he majored in criminology and wanted to be an FBI agent or a CIA officer, so he could put bad guys away. Since then, he has played both onscreen, as well as a lifeguard and a Green Beret. In 2015s San Andreas, he was an L.A. fire-rescue pilot trying to save his daughter from a terrifying earthquake. Says Flynn, One of my favorite comments online was This movie is so unrealistic. Dwayne would just go to the center of the Earth and hold it from quaking.
Johnson has found a sweet spot with the characters he plays: highly skilled bad-asses who are also sensitive and vulnerable, flawed yet decent men with big biceps and bigger hearts. No ones going to see me play a borderline psychopath suffering from depression, he says. I have friends I admire, Oscar winners, who approach our craft with the idea of Sometimes it comes out a little darker, and nobody will see it, but its for me. Great. But I have other things I can do for me. Im gonna take care of you, the audience. You pay your hard-earned money I dont need to bring my dark shit to you. Maybe a little but if its in there, were gonna overcome it, and were gonna overcome it together.
As a wrestler, Johnson spent years traveling the country performing in stadiums and arenas, learning what people wanted from their heroes. And the number-one goal in all those towns, from Paducah, Kentucky, to Bakersfield, California, was always take care of the audience. You find that today in anything I do. Never send an audience home unhappy.
Theres a moment in Rampage that illustrates this perfectly, but its impossible to talk about without discussing the ending of the film. But if theres a way to put it in, feel free, Johnson says. Because I think its interesting how we got there.
In the movie, Johnson plays Davis Okoye, a former special-forces-soldier-turned-anti-poaching-commando whos now a primatologist. (Hey, it could happen.) His best friend, a lovable albino silverback gorilla named George, gets infected by an evil corporations genetic experiment and transforms into a 40-foot monster hellbent on destroying Chicago, a pursuit hes joined in by a mutant crocodile and a giant flying wolf. Davis reunites with George and reminds him that hes a good guy, and together the two of them team up to take down the crocodile and the wolf before they destroy the world. So the script comes in, and Im reading it, Johnson says. And at the end of it George dies! Im like, No. Did I miss something? George cant be dead. But I go back, and yeah.
Johnson says this moment became the number-one topic of discussion between himself, the director and producers, and the studio. I dont like a sad ending, he says. Life brings that shit I dont want it in my movies. When the credits roll, I want to feel great. His concerns went up the chain of command, and we had a big meeting where they gave me all the reasons they thought George should die, he says. He sacrifices himself saving the world. Killing these animals who had ill intentions to harm mankind. He sacrifices himself like a brave soldier. OK. But this is a movie! Theres a crocodile the size of a football stadium were not making Saving Private Ryan.
Dwayne rarely digs in, but on this he was very adamant, Flynn says. It was back and forth for about two months.
According to Johnson, it was about more than just George. My problem is I have a relationship with an audience around the world, he says. For years Ive built a trust with them that theyre gonna come to my movies and feel good. So every once in a while, you have to drop this card, which is: Youre gonna have to find another actor. We need to figure something out, otherwise Im not gonna do the movie.
In the end, they landed on a compromise that made both sides happy. But everyone agrees that Johnson had the right instinct. He understands the audience and his relationship with the audience better than anyone, Peyton says.
Thats Dwaynes genius, says Flynn. And watching it with an audience, he was 100 percent right.
Johnsons other big hallmark, in addition to being strong and hard-working and able to laugh at himself, is that hes a good dad. Its built into his brand: Hes the guy who can punch out 20 dudes in a prison riot or divert a torpedo with his bare hands while hanging from a speeding truck, then make it home for his little girls soccer game. He says hes learned a lot from being a father, especially a father of girls: empathy, sensitivity, how to listen better. As Hobbs puts it, The only thing that I love more than saving lives is my daughter.
His own dad was a little more reserved. Soulman Rocky Johnson was a wrestler too, part of the first black tag team to win a WWF championship. Before that, he was kicked out of his house at age 13 and forced to live on the streets. My dad was tough, says Johnson. Tough, tough, tough, tough. Johnsons earliest memory is from when he was two, and his dad was filling up a kiddie pool with a hose. He was like, Hey, come look at this, so I went over and he pushed me in. Johnson laughs. Thats why I need therapy. (These days theyre close enough that Johnson bought his dad a new Cadillac after hip surgery.)
Back then, wrestlers were like nomads, eking out a living in Memphis or Allentown for a few months before moving on to the next territory. Johnson lived in five different states by kindergarten, 13 by the end of junior high. It sucked, he says. I would just be getting settled, and then its the anxiety of a new school, new friends.... When he was 12, they moved to Hawaii, where his moms family lived. Thats when it got rough, he says. His dad worked less. His parents fought. Times were lean, Johnson says. Frustrated with being poor, he started stealing, then getting arrested. Later, he began getting in fights more, and turning into an angry kid. An only child, he found it hard to talk about his feelings.
Johnson says hes been to therapy a few times now. Ive had a few bouts of depression, as happens to a lot of us, he says. The first was around the time of his divorce: Around 2008, 2009, I was going through a lot of personal shit that was really fucking me up. I was just struggling, man. Struggling to figure out what kind of dad am I gonna be. Realizing Id done a piss-poor job of cultivating relationships, and a lot of my friends had fallen by the wayside. I was just scared. Personally, everything was in a very bad and challenging place. And then professionally, I couldnt bet on myself. I wasnt used to that. Id always felt like I could put in the work and fix the scenario with my own two hands.
Hed made a splashy entrance in Hollywood, earning $5 million for his first starring role, in 2002s The Scorpion King. But after a string of slightly embarrassing kids movies, it seemed he might be done. My career was a little shaky really shaky, he says. Returning to wrestling wasnt an option, because I didnt want to go back deemed a failure. So Im making these movies, my third family movie in a row, which is often considered career suicide for someone who started in the world of action. Like, Check, please youre done.
Johnson called a meeting with his agents and said he had a plan. He wanted to be Will Smith, only different and bigger. I dont know what that means, he said. But I can see it, and I have these he held up his hands and I need everybody to see it with me. The silence was profound. Pretty soon he had new agents. But 10 years later, what kind of career does he have? Will Smiths, only different and bigger.
When Johnson started wrestling, he didnt want to use his real name because it didnt have any pizazz. Now its practically its own genre. People just know its the new Dwayne Johnson movie, and theyre in, says Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. Blair Rich, the studios president of worldwide marketing, agrees: Hes a brand unto himself.
Through it all, hes never stopped improving working with acting coaches, learning about business and marketing. Its kind of amazing to see how far hes come as an actor, Morgan says. A couple of weeks ago I was flipping through channels, and one of his first movies came on, this movie Doom, from the mid-2000s it was old enough to where he had hair. To see the subtleties he brings now I give mad props to him.
Dwayne started as an athlete, so hes used to being coached and pushed, says Rawson Marshall Thurber, who directed Johnson in Central Intelligence and this summers Skyscraper. He responds really well to that. Hell give you a hundred takes if you want.
By all accounts, Johnson is a dream on set remembering everybodys name from craft services to the camera operators, taking pictures with the second prop department guys brother even though no one asked. After two movies together, Thurber says hes seen Johnson get truly mad only once, when there was a miscommunication about when he would be done shooting, and he wasnt gonna be able to get on his flight to go see his little one. It was the most upset Ive ever seen him. But the way he handled it was really cool. He brought everybody together in the middle of the set and said, Im disappointed in all of us that were here at this point. How can we solve this and move forward?
It was pretty tense, Thurber says. Hes a big guy everyone was staring at their shoes. But what he didnt do was say screw it and storm off, or sit in his trailer and have his people make a fuss. Hes a giant movie star he could just walk out. But he called everybody together and said, Lets figure this out. I gained a lot of respect for him in that moment.
All of which may help explain the drama that boiled over on the set of The Fate of the Furious in 2016. During the last week of filming, Johnson posted a message on his Instagram slamming anonymous co-stars who fail to conduct themselves as stand-up men and true professionals and were too chickenshit to do anything about it.... Candyasses.
It soon became clear Johnson was referring to co-star Vin Diesel. When the film came out, eagle-eyed viewers noticed the pairs scenes were shot in such a way that they might not have been on set at the same time. That is correct, confirms Johnson. We were not in any scenes together.
Dwayne will give you a lot of latitude, Beau Flynn says. You can push and push and push. But theres a line in the sand with him close to his toes, probably and if you cross that, thats one of the rare times he gets upset.
Johnson says their beef came down to a disagreement about professionalism. Vin and I had a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in my trailer, he says. And what I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach moviemaking and collaborating. It took me some time, but Im grateful for that clarity. Whether we work together again or not.
Does that mean he might not be back for the ninth installment? Im not quite sure, he says. Right now Im concentrating on making the spinoff as good as it can be Hobbs and Shaw, co-starring Jason Statham, due next year. But I wish him all the best, and I harbor no ill will there, just because of the clarity we have. He considers this, then lets out a big, sly laugh. Actually, you can erase that last part about no ill will. Well just keep it with the clarity.
On the day of the nationwide March for Our Lives to protest gun violence, Johnson posts for his 102 million Instagram followers a picture of the marchers in D.C., along with a caption that reads (in part), Very proud of our youth leading this movement. . . . very strong day. Johnson rarely chooses to weigh in publicly on political issues, but the massacre of 14 students and three adults in Parkland, Florida, hit close to home, literally. His daughter Simone goes to school just half an hour away.
She was absolutely terrified, he says. A lot of her friends friends died. Its heartbreaking. Theyre still going through it. I ask him what he thinks we should do. You gotta do something, right? he says. I dont think giving teachers guns is the answer, because then were just bringing more guns into school. I dont know, man. I dont have the answers. But weve gotta keep our kids safe.
I mention how moving its been to see kids leading the way. Incredibly moving, he says. And powerful and emotional. But like with anything, weve gotta have people who will meet them in the middle. Its frustrating. Weve gotta see better leadership.
Johnsons idea of leadership includes a few things. Empathy. Inclusivity. Being open to other views. Staying calm and avoiding knee-jerk reactions. I also feel, at some point, like we just need good-quality human beings, he says. I think when youre a good-quality human being in your DNA and your constitution, it leads to more effective decision-making.
As an example, consider the clash between President Trump and the NFL players who knelt during the national anthem. Johnson (who says if he were in the league, he would either have knelt or raised my fist in solidarity) says that what those protests were about namely, African-Americans being killed by police was misunderstood. I felt like our presidents responses were being dictated by the noise, and not the actual problem, he says. At their core, he adds, the protests were a cry for help: As one human being to another, were having this issue thats affecting our country and our little kids, and I need your help. And I think when human beings are in jeopardy, and they ask for help, good-quality human beings, whether locally or at the highest level of office, they help.
Johnson doesnt know Trump. They met once, 15 or 20 years ago, at a wrestling event at Madison Square Garden. (Saw him, shook his hand. That was it.) But politics aside, Trump seems like exactly the kind of guy Johnson would have little patience for. As his character in Central Intelligence says, I dont like bullies. Can you imagine the Rocks reaction if a man on his set mocked a person with a disability, or bragged about assaulting a woman? Youre gone, Johnson says angrily. Youre done. I dont have friends like that, nor is it anywhere in our business.
That kind of behavior, he says, is why I didnt vote for him.
Johnson says he voted for Obama twice, but he didnt vote in 2016. At the time, I just felt like it was either vote for the [candidate] I thought would make a better president than the other, even though I would rather have someone else, or not vote at all. I wrestled back and forth with it. We were on the set of Jumanji in Hawaii, and it really was like calling on the gods. Give me the answer. Ultimately, it was [to not vote].
But it sounds like he may be having second thoughts. The next elections, in 2020, I think Ill be a little bit more vocal in who I support, he says.
Its hard to have this conversation without addressing the elephant in the room, which is Johnsons own political aspirations. For the past few years, stories have come out floating him as a future commander in chief. It makes sense: Hes popular, smart, charming, a natural leader and all-around good guy. Hes spent years touring small cities across America wrestling at state fairs, flea markets, barns, high school gyms. He was born in California, has deep ties to Hawaii and Florida, has lived everywhere from Texas to Georgia to Pennsylvania, and currently resides part-time in Virginia thats 153 electoral votes right there. A poll last year showed him beating Trump head-to-head, 42 to 37.
But lets be honest: Dwayne Johnson is not going to be president anytime soon. As much as wed all love to see him drop the Peoples Elbow a few Novembers from now, everyone needs to just calm down.
I mean, look, says Johnson, people are very excited, and its so flattering that theyre excited. I think its also a function of being very unsatisfied with our current president. But this is a skill set that requires years and years of experience. On a local level, on a state level and then on a national level. I have the utmost respect for our country and that position, and Im not delusioned in any way to think, Oh, absolutely, if Trump can do it, I can do it, and Ill see you in 20-whatever, get ready. Not at all.
Besides is it even a good idea? More than a year into our first celebrity presidency, most Americans would agree that its not going supergreat. Have we not learned our lesson? I think in a lot of peoples minds, what Trump has proved is that anybody can run for president, Johnson says. And in a lot of peoples minds, what hes also proved is that not everybody should run for president. What Im sensing now is that we have to pivot back to people who have a deep-rooted knowledge of American history and politics and experience in policy and how laws get made. I think that pivot has to happen.
So there you have it. Dwayne Johnson knows he probably shouldnt be president right now. And yet...maybe someday?
Johnson says hes been taking under-the-radar meetings with experts from across the political spectrum: Republicans, Democrats, independents, mayors, strategists, you name it. Just soaking in and listening. Trying to learn as much as I possibly can. I entertain the thought, and thank you, Im so flattered by it. But I feel like the best thing I can do now is, give me years. Let me go to work and learn.
Johnson smiles. I will say this really quick, which is cool. So theres a well-known political figure who said, All right, listen. If and when you want to run for president, when you text me this word, Ill come running. Dont text any other word not hi, not how you doing, not whats up. Just this word.
So whats the word?
The word is fr I cant say the word!
Is it freedom?
Johnson smiles again. Freedom patriot. Two words.
In 2032, he will have just turned 60. Freedom patriot. Mark it down.
The last time I see Johnson is on a rainy L.A. morning, when he picks me up at a Whole Foods near his house in a black Escalade with Hank Williams Jr. on the stereo. Hey, brother, he says, opening the door. We pull out of the parking lot and onto the freeway, and he checks his mirrors before merging across three lanes of traffic. Very smooth, Johnson says. Please note that.
Were on our way to the practice facility of the Los Angeles Lakers, where hes due to give a Genius Talk one in a series of TED-style lectures that the Lakers GM, Rob Pelinka, has organized to spark players curiosity for subjects outside basketball. Speakers so far have included Elon Musk and former Disney and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Today its Johnsons turn.
When he walks in, waiting to greet him is the Lakers president of basketball operations, Earvin Magic Johnson (no relation). Whats up, baby! Magic says.
How you doing? says Johnson, hugging him. Theyve known each other for years, since Johnson came to Lakers games when he was just starting his transition from wrestling to Hollywood. To see what hes doing now, see it just, boom, explode, number one in the world they need to hear that, Magic says. Were trying to become number one in the world ourselves. The Lakers are waiting for Johnson in the video room rookie sensation Lonzo Ball up front in sweats and sandals. Its one of the few gatherings on Earth where Johnson looks small. The team has struggled this year, 30-36 as of this morning. But the Lakers are young, and improving, and they have a lot of potential.
Thank you, boys, for having me, Johnson says to the room. I really didnt know what to say to you today, because you guys are already successful. So instead, let me just tell you whats worked for me, and maybe some of it might work for you.
For the next 40 minutes, Johnson delivers a heartfelt, extemporaneous speech cataloging his lifetime of failures. How he was arrested multiple times as a teenager. How he failed to get drafted into the NFL, his dream crushed at 22. How he made it big in wrestling, but then quit to star in movies and struggled, and two years later wondered, What the fuck did I do with my career? He says he carries these failures close. You gotta keep that shit in the front of your mind. When shit goes bad or sideways, when you get booed out of the building, it should form you. It should drive you.
At one point, Johnson looks around the room at the hungry young faces looking back at him. You guys are on the come-up, he tells them. Youre on the rise. But at some point, you gotta be fucking tired of not being number one. You gotta play angry. Im cool and calm when I step on a set. But when it comes to business and when it comes to executing he raps his fist against the wall every day my back is up against this motherfucker. And when my back is against this motherfucker he raps again I dont give a fuck whos in front of me. I wont stop.
That night, the Lakers win by nine.
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