hen The Rock swaggers into a room, it's a very definite swagger—cocky, arrogant, self-assured. He is, after all, The Rock of pro wrestling fame, 6 foot 5, 250 pounds, who's busted heads in Walking Tall and fought demons in The Scorpion King. This time, however, he's jumping into a film role that is based on his favorite video game, Doom.
The Rock, you see, becomes more like a Dwayne Johnson when he gets all excited talking about gaming. He confesses that he got a bit nauseated when he first played the game, but he had it back in his trailer when he was shooting for four months in Prague. He then admits that he's afraid to go on roller coasters.
But for the film version of Doom, he's all Rock—playing Sarge, the leader of a mercenary team on Mars that must use every weapon at their disposal to fight the demons unleashed at their station. Sarge's team includes Dr. Samantha ("Sam") Grimm, played by Rosamund Pike, and her brother John (Karl Urban), as well as a wheelchair-bound communications officer (Dexter Fletcher). Raz Adoti, DeObia Oparei, Ben Daniels, Yao Chin, Al Weaver and Richard Brake also star in this high-action film, which includes many of the features of the game, including the BFG—the Bio-Force Gun.
The Rock discussed the film at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., with Science Fiction Weekly while the game was being played in a room on the 12th floor. Co-star Pike, producers John Wells and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, id Software game creator Todd Hollenshead, special-effects man John Rosengrant and screenwriter Wesley Strick were also giving interviews. Doom opens Oct. 21 and is being released by Universal Pictures, a division of NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.com.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, did you go out of your way to avoid one of your pro-wrestling trademarks as far as raising your eyebrow, or did you want to sneak it in?
Rock: No, no, the only time I did that was in The Scorpion King, where I thought that it would fit and we were in a harem or whatever. But no, nothing like that, especially in Doom.
Not even when you picked up that Bio-Force Gun, the BFG?
Rock: Well, that's a funny thing. For me, even though it's not eloquently written or anything like that, you pick up that gun ... like I told Andrzej [Bartkowiak], "There are a few things you could say." I mean, you might say, "Oh, s---!" I mean, that's what you'd say.
The real one was heavy that I was using, which was good, because you can tell when I pick it up the first time I fire it, I sort of take a step, like that. That one was really, really heavy. The prop master had made that. The one that I had to run with wasn't as heavy, because you obviously have to move with it, but it's a heavy sucker. It had a kick to it, too. I mean, you'd press it and it would come back. Both of them are sitting at my house now. It's fun.
How much of the stunts did you do?
Rock: Well, I love that stuff. I'm one of those guys that likes that, and I come from that world, and so I pretty much did everything. I have a great stunt double thanks to my cousin [Tanoai Reed], and when it comes to like the dangerous stuff, you know, he was thrown into the wall there. But I think that it's important today, and the audiences are savvy, and we all understand that money doesn't grow on trees. So when I watch a movie I want to see my guy. That's who I want to see. So if I can do it, I do it. It's funny. I just adopted this saying. I told Andrzej, too. I said, "Look, if I can't do it, it just simply can't be done." Then I was like, "Where's my stunt double?" [Laughs.]
What did your cousin do, then? What stunts?
Rock: He does [when] I get thrown into the wall. He did that. And that's really about it, honestly. It's funny, because this movie was cake for him, in that I basically did everything. That's cool. But other than that, wasn't much. The only time that he did work, you'll see, is when the coverage was kind of on Karl [Urban] and he would do some blocking and some punching stuff. But that was only when I needed a break, and certainly nothing like he's done in the past. He's really done some incredible stunts. He's an award-winning stuntman.
We know you like video games—
Rock: Oh yeah, man. I have an Xbox and PS2. I had the Xbox in my trailer during the movie. I like Halo, and I'm even big into Madden. I love Madden. I played Halo for a little while and tried to get online, too. I tried that with my cousin, which was pretty cool. I'm excited to see what they're going to do with Halo [the movie], actually. They've got some good producers.
I don't think I'll [be in that film]. I mean, right now I'm concentrating on Spy Hunter. I just did the motion capture for Spy Hunter III, the video game, which was cool because that allows you to get out of the car now. We're waiting, but that's going to be with Universal, and this is one of those projects where we've had eight writers on Spy Hunter, and great writers, too. Millions of dollars being spent, but it's one of those things where when you don't want to rush it you just don't want to make any type of movie. It's such a special movie conceptually; you're a hunter of spies.
Were the fight scenes or the shooting scenes more fun?
Rock: Well, I'd have to say the gun stuff. I was able to shoot some guns off in The Rundown and in Walking Tall, but just shooting off the BFG and shooting at monsters and in the corridors, it's an atmosphere of tension, and you don't know what's lurking around the corner. It was really cool.
Do you finally consider yourself an actor?
Rock: Yeah. When I first broke into the business about five years ago, even with The Mummy Returns, which was a small role, no English dialogue, one line, that was it, and being on the set in Morocco and watching everyone act, I saw if I really wanted to be good, then acting is not easy. I had then a newfound respect for acting. I was like, "If I want to be good, I have to concentrate and align myself with good people and good actors and get a good coach." All that kind of stuff.
I played football for 10 years, and then I wrestled for another six and a half, seven years and fortunately in wrestling it was at least on television and so I thought, "OK. At least on my TV." Originally I wanted to be in sitcom comedy. That was my goal. Of course the big screen was always a goal for me, but I had no connections. I didn't grow up across the street from Paramount. No one was an executive in my family. It wasn't like that at all. So I didn't know how that was going to happen, and then when The Mummy Returns came along and I met with Stephen Sommers, I was just so excited. I was like, "I'd love to play this." He goes, "Yeah. We created this role in The Scorpion King." I said, "I'd love to do that. Any dialogue?" He goes, "Here's your one line you're going to have to study." I was like, "OK, great. Cool. I'll take it." So, since that happened, here we are. I'm really happy.
The role of Sarge that you play in this isn't like your usual hero roles. Will kids be surprised?
Rock: Well, here's the thing though. Even with the change, I still believe Sarge is still like that guy. He's one of those guys who I firmly believe is the commanding officer in the military, and he acted like 99 percent of them would, which is, "Above all else, whatever is necessary, we see these orders through. Bad things are going to happen, and they do happen, and we see these orders through. Done." A little man-on-man, one-on-one action at the end doesn't hurt. "Let's go one round." That was cool.
Who's your favorite actor, or whose career do you to aspire toward?
Rock: I've always been a huge fan of Clint Eastwood. I mean, that's a tough question, but with what Clint has done in films and that bravado that he had, and that he still has a sense of humor about himself, and directing now, I'd love to work with him and Quentin Tarantino, all of those guys. Actor-wise, there's Clint and the great ones. Mel Gibson I really like. Everybody. There are so many good actors out there.
Your character seems like he takes a turn for the worse. Are you signed on for a sequel on this?
Rock: We've talked about it, and it's possible, because I'm superhuman. The grenade explodes, and you never know what could happen. That could be cool. It would almost be like The Terminator, if I came back and was infected. It could be kind of like that. We'll see. I would love to, though. That would be cool, especially if I was an infected Sarge. That'd be cool. I'd love that.
You had that Semper Fi tattoo put on for the movie. I suppose you had to cover your real one?
Rock: Yeah. We covered my tattoo and put that on. I'll tell you, moviemaking is fun, and we're not changing the world in any way, but there is a sense of pride. When you put a Semper Fi tattoo on you, and especially when I knew what it meant and what it stands for, it's the heart and soul of the Marine Corps. It means, "We are forever faithful." That really gets you excited. I have a lot of love and respect for the military. That whole process took like six hours, to cover mine and put that on and take it off, especially at the end, when I have all the prosthetics. It took nine hours, that stuff.
Are you nervous about the possible criticism over the violence in this film?
Rock: I'm not nervous about it. I'm sure that it'll happen. I'm not nervous about it, thought. We made the movie, and it's an adaptation of a very violent video game. Some people like vanilla ice cream. Some people like chocolate. Everyone likes pancakes. That's what Doom is. Pancakes. I'm sure there'll be some criticism, and some ladies walked out last night, I heard, when they watched the movie. "That's too much." That's what I heard. When the ear got ripped off, which is kind of gross, I know, and the monster sort of sticks its tongue in there and wiggles it, they got up and walked out.
Why did you want to do this movie?
Rock: I read the script. I loved it. I had a chance to play it. The first Doom that I played was almost 15 years ago. I'm a big fan of the game, and when I was approached with it—Universal had sent me the script—I thought, "OK, it's pretty ambitious to try and make this into a movie." Frankly, it's because the movies in the past that have been adapted from video games have been OK. They've made a ton of money, box-office-wise, but you walk away from them going, "OK. That was kind of all right." So I thought that it was really ambitious. I'd read the script and really enjoyed it, and then I remember calling Universal and saying, "We really have a shot at this if, number one, we stay true to the game and remain unapologetic in our approach, and when it's time to blow demons away we blow them away. When it's time to die, you die the way that you should be dying in Doom. Not PG-13 style." And not only that, but it was written in there, the first-person shooter was written in there, that sequence. I thought that was really great and hoped it would capture that, and I think that it does a great job of capturing that. And not only all of that, but for me personally, selfishly, I get the chance to carry the BFG, which is like, "I'm that guy? Oh, cool." I get to just be a real, real bad-ass guy.
Did you use some of your wrestling stunts in this?
Rock: Well, we had a guy named Deon Lam, who is really, really good. He coordinated The Matrix movies and Spider-Man 2, and he's just great. He comes from that Hong Kong school, which is awesome. I enjoyed working with that. I loved the process. Preproduction. Principal photography. Post. I love everything, so to get involved with him and work with a guy like that who I know, was great. He was the understudy to a legend in Hong Kong, and so he was like the man.
I had a chance to work him and Andy Chang on The Rundown and on The Scorpion King, and I love that. And you know what's great about those guys is that I'll say, "This is what I can do. This is the move that I can incorporate, so how can we do this, but how we can make it different and how can we make it special?" He was just great.
Your character is the only one who doesn't seem to get sick and throw up when coming back through the arc portal. Do you ever get sick on rides or anything like that?
Rock: Yeah. I'll be honest with you. The first time I played Doom I got nauseous. Then I read somewhere that that's what happens. You just get nauseous with the first-person shooter and all of that, but for some reason I'd been good, and then one time I went to Universal and everyone was like, "Get on the Spider-Man ride!" Oh, man. I was that close to getting sick. I was like, "This is it." So after that it's been like, "No. No more rides for me. No. No." Especially something like that, with the hydraulics and everything going on.
What about the Mummy ride?
Rock: I'll do that ride, because I heard that I'm in it [laughs].
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