Johnson describes his current life with a sophistication not always apparent onscreen, laughing readily and infectiously. But his past is never too far from his mind. “I remember it as if it were yesterday,” he says. Johnson was 14 when he came home and found an eviction notice pinned to the door. He was living in Hawaii with his mother, Ata, while his father, Rocky, a professional wrestler, was scraping a living going from one wrestling circuit to another.
Austin HargraveDwayne “The Rock” Johnson was on NBC’s Today show on Tuesday to promote his starring role in Paramount’s upcoming Hercules movie, but ahead of the film’s release the former wrestler is making headlines for a secret superhero role he claims he’s close to announcing.
Johnson has been teasing the project lately but dropped more hints in his interview with Savannah Guthrie, when she asked him about reports that he’s playing a DC superhero.
PHOTOS Exclusive Portraits of ‘Hercules’ Star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
“Yes, it is going to happen. I’ve been dying to announce it, by the way…. We still have to find the right writer. We’re having two, three takes right now,” Johnson said. “But I’m very excited about it. It’s going to be great. I’ve been waiting a long time for this, and so have the fans, by the way.”
Johnson also talked about the recently wrapped Fast & Furious 7 and finishing the Universal film in the wake of Paul Walker’s death.
“The death of Paul, like anytime you lose a loved one, it rocks us to our core. It makes us love our loved ones that much stronger, every day, more powerful,” Johnson said. “And with Paul’s death, we all felt that the best thing collectively that we could do was create a little space and then try and make the best movie possible.”
PHOTOS Actors Who Died During Filming
And he thinks that’s what he and the Fast 7 team did.
“I do believe the fans are going to walk away from the movie — I think they’re going to be triggered emotionally because of Paul — but I also think that they’re going to walk away seeing a great movie,” he said.
With all of his Hollywood commitments, could “The Rock” return to the wrestling ring? He says only if he could find a marquee opponent, and while he’s not sure who that is, he has a suggestion incorporating some of the Today hosts.
Watch Johnson’s full interview, in which he also talks about his Hercules training and diet regimen, below.
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