The Rock grapples with a mythical character
‘I was born to play this role,’ says the 6-foot-5 star of his passion project
Sometimes special moments strike like Zeus’ thunderbolts on a movie set.
For Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a massive jolt came on the set of Hercules (out July 25) during a scene when his Greek hero was chained to stone pillars.
“It’s when Hercules breaks through the chains and becomes the demigod he was born to be,” Johnson says. “I was actually yelling with all the power I could muster, ‘I am Hercules!’ I gave it my all and made myself pass out every time we did it. But I honestly felt in that moment that I was born to play this role.”
Even as a child, Johnson, 41, idolized the Herculean legend — “He was the first superhero.” But with his 6-foot-5 frame, Johnson is one of the few actors who could convincingly portray his hero.
The effort has taken a decade and came into focus when director Brett Ratner came on board four years ago. Johnson took eight months to sculpt his body to demigod status and maintained it during the shoot in Hungary.
“It’s incredible. He’s up every morning at 3:45 right on the treadmill, then to the gym for hours,” says producer Beau Flynn. “And then to the makeup chair, then shooting all day in the heat. And repeat that for 90 days.”
Johnson’s first transformation into his character took 41⁄ hours
2 after being adorned with a wig, beard, makeup and wardrobe. “It looked incredible,” Johnson says. “But it was like, ‘How the hell can we cut the time down?’ ”
Eventually they whittled the daily process to 31⁄ hours,
2 though the lush yak-beard (“Yes, real yak hair,” Johnson says) alone took 21⁄ hours to apply.
2
“The No. 1 goal is to make the definitive version of Hercules,” Johnson says. “We know we’re going to be under a microscope.” A competing The Legend of
Hercules, starring Kellan Lutz as the hero, bombed at the box office in January and caused some initial “confusion,” Johnson says. But he’s confident moviegoers will accept his “passion-driven” project based on the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars.
The story finds Hercules after enduring his 12 Labors (which included slaying a nine-headed hydra and the fearsome Nemean lion), punishment for killing his family in a fit of insanity.
Hercules is still in a dark place mentally, with scars from his many battles. But now he is traveling with a group of mercenaries and cashing in on his famous name until he’s hired to train an army for an epic battle.
The setting allowed Johnson to lead war scenes featuring more than 1,000 soldiers.
“When you have real men, real sweat and even real blood, it’s very gratifying,” he says.
After he was done with some serious clubbing, Johnson would recover in modern Hercules style.
“I had the club of Hercules and the Nemean lion’s head in my room. I’d come home and catch something on the BBC with a glass of tequila.”