Not only is the champion in the ring, the bald guy with the nickname “The Rock” is also the king of the box office charts.
Hollywood has repeatedly given acting opportunities to professional fighters who want to “change the wind” as screen heroes, such as John Cena, Dave Bautista, Kevin Nash… But perhaps, only wrestlers have won 17 championships. The Rock is making a big difference.
In 2016, Dwayne Johnson – a sidekick who surpassed many veteran faces to become the highest paid actor in the world with 64.5 million USD. In 2017, he dropped to second place on the list with $ 65 million (less than the leader Mark Wahlberg by $ 3 million). Also in this year, two of the three films that Dwayne Johnson participated in achieved huge revenue: The Fate of the Furious swept with $ 1.163 billion and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle silently “pocketed” 944.4 million dollars.
Director Brad Peyton (who has collaborated with Dwayne in 3 films Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, San Andreas and Rampage) has called this 1m96 tall giant “the biggest movie star in the world”. And perhaps, this compliment is not too flattering.
The secret to success
At 45 years old, Dwayne Johnson is one of the best-paid stars in the world for both himself and the studio. The total income that this former wrestler has from filming is estimated at about 220 million USD. Dwayne’s total sales of 27 films have brought in about $ 9 billion (according to figures from Boxoffice Mojo).
More importantly, Dwayne Johnson’s image and name became popular with a mass audience. When asked by Vanity Fair about the secret to success in both careers – wrestling and acting, Dwayne sincerely revealed: “Work hard and always be grateful to others. You must always focus and do not bring ego is too big. When you achieve success, never be complacent. Finally, never doubt yourself.”
A giant with a sentimental soul
Looking back, the path this former champion has walked has not been a carpet of roses. Dawyne Douglas Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, the third generation in a family with a tradition of pursuing wrestling. His father was the first African-American champion, and his grandfather, a chief, was the first Samoan to play the sport.
But from the beginning, Dwayne Johnson did not choose the same path as his father and grandfather. He loves to play football, once received a full scholarship to the University of Miami to pursue a career as a player. The dream was broken because of a terrible trauma. And Dwayne returns to the wrestler – which has always been in the flesh.
Not having any formal acting training, but raising the ambition to become a Will Smith (a bigger version), Dwayne Johnson often chooses scenarios with lots of action and entertainment.
He himself once shared: “I don’t like movies with sad endings. Life has brought so many terrible things – I don’t want it to appear in my movies. When the credits appear, I want to feel satisfied. will” .
Growing up in a wrestling family was not easy. Dwayne has described his father as an extremely difficult person. The fact that his father often goes to competitions causes the family of three to move a lot. Dwayne lived in five different states while in kindergarten, reaching 13 in high school.
At 12, his father switched from dueling his opponents to arguing with his mother. Father was unemployed, the family fell into poverty, Dwayne started stealing and was arrested. He fights more, becomes an angry man when he can’t control his emotions.
Divorced parents. At the age of 15, Dwayne Johnson watched as her mother tried to kill herself by wandering down the highway after they were evicted from their apartment. Worry about his mother, trauma, breakup with his girlfriend caused Dwayne to face psychological problems for many years. But instead of giving up, he chose to fight and heal the wounds of his heart for himself and for his mother.
The more life pummeled, the stronger Dwayne Johnson became. It’s like the way a 13-year-old boy chose when his friends laughed at him for his hair and body like a girl. He chose to train his muscles, forcing his body to become stronger to resist bullying in school.
We often mock big, brute people with the simile: “Stupid mind, developed limbs”. But for Dwayne Johnson, this is not true at all.
Dwayne Johnson in the “Fast & Furious” series.
So far, Dwayne’s on-screen success hasn’t come entirely from his acting ability (but now he’s been practicing very hard, hiring even instructors to improve his expressive abilities).
The beautiful body, bright smile, cool face, cinematic atmosphere and especially smart choices are what make the legendary former wrestler a real movie star.
In 2001, Dwayne – still using the word The Rock with his name – Johnson made his Hollywood debut through the movie The Mummy Returns with a record salary of $ 5.5 million (higher than any other star). at that time). The image of the Scorpion King that he portrayed in the movie was so impressive that the producer decided to make a spin-off movie called The Scorpion King (2002).
Dwayne Johnson and the image of the Scorpion King.
In October 2006, Dwayne Johnson announced: “I am no longer a wrestler, my goal from now to the future is to become an actor and someday a director. I am no longer The Rock. I’m Dwayne Johnson.”
The major that Johnson pursued while in college (besides playing football) was Criminal Psychology. He once wanted to be a special agent working for the FBI or CIA with the goal of “killing the bad guys”. If your wish doesn’t come true in real life, then make it come true on screen.
Step by step, Dwayne Johnson has built herself a solid action figure. Race to Witch Mountain, San Andreas, Hercules… bring heroes that no one wants to cause trouble just by looking at them.
Since joining Fast Five, Dwayne Johnson has become an indispensable face in the billion-dollar racing movie franchise. The two most recent films, Furious 7 brought in $1.5 billion and The Fate of the Furious at $1.13 billion, which has greatly increased Dwayne’s value and remuneration. Then, the on-set conflict between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel (to the point where a source claimed they didn’t even film any scenes together) increased the anticipation for the 9th movie.
Along with the heroic image of overcoming difficulties, Dwayne Johnson is also very active in comedy films. This is considered a step quite similar to what action legend Arnold Schawarzenegger – a bodybuilder turned actor – once successfully performed: bringing his own cool and serious features to play. laugh for the audience.
Comedy-action works such as The Game Plan, Tooth Fairy, Central Intelligence… and especially Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle bring a charming, flexible Dwayne Johnson but still keep the hegemony when needed.
The nuances of the man with sticky rice are also very diverse!
Dwayne’s first movie this year – Rampage is also full of humor, combined with familiar rescue action sequences. In the film, Dwayne plays a former special forces soldier and biologist who will have to make an effort to rescue his friend Godzilla and the whole world from the problem of crocodiles, giant wolves are mad.
Off-screen, Dwayne Johnson has always kept the image of a friendly, elegant, kind, and devoted man to his family. He once revealed on the program Elle Degeneres that he was considering his intention to run for the presidency of the United States to “serve the people and create a better environment for them”.
Hugely successful with a sports career, flourishing with an acting career, will Dwayne Johnson continue to forge a third career – a politician when his muscles have worn out over the years? Dwayne still leaves everything open: “I feel like the best thing I can do right now is, give me a few years. Let me work and learn.”
Source: kenh14.vn
