Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson recently talked about moving from the WWF to Hollywood in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He recalled how the industry wanted to change his muscular build to fit the typical leading man roles during the early years.
Johnson’s rise in Hollywood began with roles in films like ‘The Scorpion King’ and ‘Walking Tall,’ and his hosting stint on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ Despite pressures to conform to a certain image, he chose to maintain his authenticity.
“As I was pushing my career forward — doing my best to push my career forward — there were moments of doubt,” the actor shared. “‘If you wanna be a leading man, you’re too big; you can’t go to the gym, you have to lose weight, you gotta go on a diet.’”
“And if you don’t know any better, then you buy into it, so I started to question myself then,” he continued. “Some of those films at the time I was making, I think, reflect that. And then a moment came where I said, ‘Excuse my language but f*ck that, I’m not doing this anymore, I’m gonna do myself. And if I fail, then I can fail being me.’”
Johnson’s decision to remain true to himself helped him secure roles in blockbuster films such as ‘Furious 7,’ ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,’ and ‘Black Adam.’ He also earned producer credits on several hit films.
The actor is currently looking forward to the release of ‘Red One,’ an action-comedy by Jake Kasdan that will debut on Netflix, and a sequel to Disney’s ‘Moana.’
