In the August 2015 issue of Esquire, WWE Legend The Rock is featured on the cover and the wrestler, now actor sat down for a lengthy interview over Skype while he was in LA.
Discussing his success so far:
“I’ve been fortunate to have had the life I had prior to Hollywood. I wasn’t starving, I was going to eat the next day. I came to Hollywood wanting a career that had longevity, and I wasn’t afraid to take risks because I had a dollar in the bank. I wasn’t driven by money as much as I was driven by making a successful transition. And I was smart enough to know that I certainly didn’t have all the answers and I needed to surround myself with smart people and be willing to take risks and be willing to fail.”
Discussing just how accurate the movie “The Wrestler” actually is:
“It’s very accurate. I would do blade jobs. I get a call once from the WWE, saying, “Vince [McMahon] would like to see you in Stamford.” I went to his office and he says, “I really think you have a lot of potential, but you’re not ready for the WWE. You should go to Memphis, Tennessee. That’s where I want you to learn the business.” And as I was leaving, he said, “You keep working hard, but don’t go down there and cut your fucking forehead with razor blades, you understand me?”
In the ’60s and ’70s and early ’80s, the trainers would grind you and eventually they would break something—they would break an ankle in ways that it would heal. It was just the way of the business, to ensure that you learned respect for wrestling. It was crazy. My dad [Rocky Johnson, a WWE Hall of Fame grappler] didn’t break anything on me, but he grinded me out every day for months.”
Discussing the world of wrestling vs. the world of movies:
“Wrestling is intimate. You can reach out and touch the wrestlers. I don’t get that connection in movies, but the impact is so much greater. You’re able to craft a longer career in movies. In wrestling, there’s a shelf life, and some wrestlers don’t pay attention to the shelf life. Mickey Rourke’s character in The Wrestler—that was my dad, that was my uncles, that was so many members of my family. It was the only thing they knew. And then they would end up wrestling for a hundred bucks, go to autograph signings for two hundred bucks.”
To read more of the interview with The Rock, where he also talks about down sizing, his little girl and his girlfriend then click this link.
