CELEBRITIES

The Rock plays an amputee who must save his wife from a skyscraper

Dwayne Johnson plays a disabled war veteran who takes on tall buildings in ‘Skyscraper’.

They used to call Dwayne Johnson “The Rock”, and at 46 the former football star, former professional wrestler and current action-movie star still is an intimidating presence. The effect is maybe lost, however, in a cellphone photo Johnson recently circulated on social media. It depicts his partner, Lauren Hashian, nursing their 2-monthold daughter Tia, while Johnson kneels to spoon-feed Hashian her dinner.

If it undercuts his macho persona, Johnson said, so be it. “Being a father is the greatest job in the entire world,” he said. “I’m hands-on. I’m helping. I do diapers. Doesn’t matter what’s going on in that diaper, I’m on it.”

That shouldn’t be taken as an indication that his onscreen image is going soft. Johnson is as tough as ever in Skyscraper, which opened on July 12, playing Will Sawyer, a war veteran and former FBI hostage-rescue-team leader who these days is living the easy life as a devoted husband and dad who now works assessing security for skyscrapers.

Needless to say, life doesn’t stay easy. He’s on an assignment in Hong Kong when he hears that the tallest, supposedly safest building in the world is on fire. Accused of causing the fire, Will goes on the run to clear his name — and to rescue his wife (Neve Campbell) and kids, who are trapped on the top floor of the burning mega-structure.

Johnson sees the film as an homage to the classic action films of the past. “I’m a big fan of classic action movies that inspired me and entire generations,” he said during a telephone interview, “from Die Hard (1988) to Towering Inferno (1974) to The Fugitive (1993).”

The script also sparked his interest because Will is a wounded warrior, and also a man who won’t be stopped in fighting to save the ones he loves.

“This was the most physically and emotionally demanding role of my career,” he said. “When we first meet Will, he is finally finding some peace. He was severely wounded on a mission. I become an amputee and lose my leg. I’m trying to put my life back together with my wife and two small children. We go to Hong Kong, where I have a job to inspect the biggest building in the world. “Things happen and I’m forced to take action.”

Johnson, who also produced the film, said that he was “inspired by the thousands of disabled veterans and war heroes” he has met through the years, both as a wrestler and as an actor. To research his role, he logged more time with US war veterans who had lost limbs in combat.

“I wanted to give them a prosthetic-wearing hero who is hell bent on saving the day,” he said.

In one scene Will dangles 240 floors up, hanging by that prosthetic leg.

“I’m also jumping off cranes and hanging upside down 3,000 feet in the sky,” Johnson said. “It’s intense and feels like something you haven’t seen in the past.”

Johnson remains near the top of Hollywood’s A-list. He can take his pick from a wide variety of projects, and has fronted numerous action blockbusters while also dabbling in drama and even family comedy. “I do love action,” he said. “I love kicking ass. But my first goal now is to become a better actor. That’s why I set out to work in so many different genres. I always want to be learning and exploring.”

The only child of Ata Johnson, nee Maivia, and professional wrestler Rocky Johnson, Dwayne Johnson grew up in awe of his grandfather, wrestler Peter Maivia, and his grandmother, Lia Maivia, one of the few female wrestling promoters.

“I knew at 8 that I wanted to be some kind of entertainer,” he said. “I wanted to be Chuck Norris combined with Harrison Ford, with a little Rocky Balboa and Elvis in there too.

“I loved to watch movies with heroes who looked like they were having fun while saving the day,” Johnson added.

He grew up in California and then in Honolulu, where he got into some trouble as a teen, including being arrested. “I did all sorts of stupid stuff,” Johnson admitted.

When Dwayne was in 11th grade, his father relocated the family to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There Johnson began to play football, run track and wrestle. Almost without noticing, he began to live a better life.

“Sports removed the chip from my shoulder,” he said. “It helped me through the best of times and the worst. It got me off the streets too. I fell in love with football and started thinking about what I could accomplish in life if I had some concrete goals.”

He was awarded a full football scholarship to play defensive tackle at the University of Miami. Where some players coast on their athleticism, Johnson applied himself to his studies and graduated with a degree in criminology and physiology.

When an injury ended his plans for a career in the National Football League, Johnson turned to professional wrestling.

His family initially opposed the idea, but ultimately came around, with his father becoming his tough, no-nonsense trainer.

As The Rock he became one of the World Wrestling Federation’s hottest stars, then leveraged that fame into Hollywood roles — initially in muscle parts in The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Scorpion King (2002), but soon he broadened his palate for Walking Tall (2004), Be Cool (2005), Doom (2005), among others.

Hollywood clout comes from the box office, and Johnson has done well in that area, scoring blockbuster hits with Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015) and The Fate of the Furious (2017), as well as with the Disney animated hit Moana (2016) and the fantasy comedy Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017).

On the small screen Johnson stars on the HBO series Ballers as a jacket-and-tie-wearing financial adviser.

He’s also developing The Titan Games for NBC—a new, unscripted show that will give regular people the opportunity to take on the show’s Titans in physical challenges.

His upcoming films include Jungle Cruise, based on the Disney theme-park ride in which a small riverboat filled with tourists navigates through a remote jungle filled with dangerous animals and perils of a more supernatural nature, and Jumanji 2.

Johnson also will team up with Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot for Red Notice, in which they will play Interpol agents, and will get his own comic-book movie next spring in the form of Black Adam, based on the DC Comics antihero.

Two decades into his career as an entertainer, his determination is still as solid as, well, a rock.

“Life can bring you drama, but you balance it out,” Johnson said. “I do work I love, and I’m around the people I love. In tougher times you just need to have faith and listen to your instincts. If you fail, at least you learn that lesson.

“And you have to remember that on the other side of pain is joy.”

His mother is a source of inspiration for him. “Mom said, ‘Go for broke. Leave nothing on the field or the screen,’” Johnson said. “‘Go for the joy.’”

His greatest joy arises from family.

The actor has a 17-year-old daughter, Simone, with ex-wife Dany Garcia, and two younger ones with Hashian, daughter of the late Boston drummer Sib Hashian: 2-year-old Jasmine and 2-month-old Tia.

He isn’t afraid to show his affection, even if the recipient is his 17-year-old, who would rather he dialled it back.

“I have real long arms and love to pull my oldest in for hugs,” Johnson said. “She hates it and loves it at the same time.”