Dwayne Johnson talks about new film, ‘Black Adam’ l GMA

Now you're sitting down, we're finally going to talk to Dwayne Johnson, Black Adam star. But you know, talk about a passion project, 10 years in the making. How does it feel to have it come out? It feels so good to have it come out. And actually, I sent Michael a picture last night. It's been 15 years since the very first announcement that I was going to play Black Adam. So I mean, yeah, what a representation of trying to be resilient, pushing this thing, and really fighting for this thing. Because my studio partners back then, and really up until maybe even 10 years ago too as well, it was easier for them to just look at the Justice League, and continue to invest in the Justice League, and a little bit more challenging to look past the Justice League, to Black Adam, a character who really the masses had no idea who it was, to introduce the JSA as well, the Justice Society of America in our movie. And what's interesting about the JSA, and this was one of the many ways I helped our studio partners understand, is the JSA predated the Justice League. So the JSA was actually the very first superhero group in the world of, and in the lore of superheroes and comics. It's really cool. There's really rich history there. And they're not overlooking it anymore, obviously. I got a chance to see the movie yesterday. Absolutely loved it. And what I loved about it, I mean, Black Adam is an anti-hero. And you have to tap into your dark side, which is something a little different for you. So how were you able to tap into your dark side for this role? Well, this was certainly a departure from anything that I've done. And in terms of, I thought, well, let me not try and tap into a dark side, because I feel probably energetically that's not a good place, healthy place to go. Even though my friends who are actors do it all the time. So what I did do was just try to think of times in my past, where I felt really constrained, and like I had the chains on me. And people telling me, well, you can't do this. You have to do it like that. For example, when I first got to Hollywood many moons ago, I was told, out of the world of pro wrestling, I was told, well, if you want to make it, if you want to be a star, the biggest stars at that time were George Clooney and Johnny Depp and Will Smith. I was told then, you can't call yourself the rock. Don't talk about pro wrestling. You've got to lose weight. Go on a diet. You're too big. Don't go to the gym as much. There was a lot of things like that I was being told. And if you don't know any better, you buy into it. And I bought into it for a couple of years before I said, this ends right now. And I'm going to be myself. And at least if I fail, I'm going to fail being me. So I tapped into that because a lot of that, those elements, are what surrounds Black Adam's life and his existence. Being told, you have to do it like that. You can't do it like that. Superheroes act a certain way. Superheroes do it a certain way. And Black Adam says, well, I'm going to do it Black Adam's way. All of what you said led to this. We want to show a bit of Black Adam. I know it got lost in all the confusion, but we still have some issues to settle here. There are only heroes and there are villains. You think yourself a hero, but you would let these criminals go free. Heroes don't kill people. You had Smokey Robinson. He was even watching the monitor go over there. Smokey and Rita were both like... Smokey and Rita, no. They were both looking over there like that. But we should know, there's no padding. That's all you. That's all you that we see right there. And you had to work out. You said the hardest that you've ever... How were you able to maintain it? Because it took a while to film this. I felt like Black Adam, not demanded, but commanded a body transformation. And also to guys, for me, Black Adam is the one. It's the movie of my career. The most important movie I've ever done. Arguably will ever do. So I really wanted to challenge myself and really put in the time. So I did work out. And the challenging thing, Michael and I were talking about this earlier, is when an athlete prepares for an event, a game, Olympics, whatever it is, you train very hard, you diet everything down, and then you're there maybe in that space for maybe a few days, maybe a week. I had to maintain this for four months. So it was really, really challenging. While filming all day. While filming all day in a suit that did not have muscle padding. But then I see his cheat meals. And as much as you were working out, you had to eat those cheat meals like that. And you said this is the role of your career. Yeah. But you said the greatest role you ever played in your life is father. And I hear that your kids, your girls, they love to play the role of alarm clock to you. Oh, man. This is they play in their favorite game now called Close Your Eyes, Daddy. Probably about 7 a.m. here. And I just, of course, I'm a glutton for punishment. And now I start hearing squeaky sounds. And this is where I say, wait, wait, wait, no, what is that? And it is a balloon on the head. That is my alarm clock. Now, she, that is, good morning, that's Jazzy and Tia. That is my existence. But I will tell you, that's my favorite role. So are they impressed by the fact you're a superhero? You know, they actually are. Wow. Yes, thank God. Because usually, you know, as you know, the kids, well, they're the ego, you know, checker. So they're excited about Black Adam. I told them I am going to show it to them, certain parts. Well, I know they'll be impressed by this. Billy Dee, this action figure. I'm like, come on, come on. The girls are going to love that, right? They're going to love this. Look at this. No muscle padding here either. It's real hard work by this guy. Congratulations. Thank you for coming in. Thank you so much. Incredibly proud. Well, hey there, GMA fans. Robin Roberts here. Thanks for checking out our YouTube channel. Lots of great stuff here. So go on, click the subscribe button right over here to get more of awesome videos and content from GMA every day, anytime. We thank you for watching, and we'll see you in the morning on GMA.