Dwayne Johnson's favorite role: Dad

Woman, I am the cavalry. Of course you are. It's Sunday morning on CBS. And here again is Jane Pauley. That's Dwayne Johnson, the Rock, in the popular film series Fast and Furious. He's made quite a name for himself in the world of movies. But he tells Tracy Smith that his favorite role is Dad. In show business, or really any business, they don't come much bigger than Dwayne Johnson. He's the highest paid actor in the world, according to Forbes, and his worldwide movie totals are counted in the billions. We're here to negotiate your peaceful surrender. Not peaceful. And now, in a new film opening this month, Johnson wants to be the next big superhero. These powers are not a gift, but a curse. In the DC Comics universe, Black Adam is a prisoner turned violent demigod out for revenge. Do you consider him a villain? At times I do. Well, I consider him an anti-hero, but it's like reading the Bible. It's interpretive. And it's a role that seems to fit him like, well, a skin-tight superhero suit. But it seems that Dwayne Johnson's real superpower just might be his humility. An only child, Johnson had the humblest of beginnings. His dad, Rocky Johnson, was a pro wrestler back in the days when road trips were long and money was tight. So you guys were nomads, basically. We were nomads. We had that life up until I was 16 years old. We lived on the road, and I spent a lot of my time growing up in the backseat of a car. He went to college on a football scholarship. But injuries and bad luck eventually sent him back home, defeated, with only seven bucks to his name. Years later, he'd name his production company Seven Bucks Productions as a reminder of where he started. But in the mid-90s, he turned to wrestling as a way to pull himself out of poverty. If Flex Cavanaugh loses, he's out of the U.S. W.A. Oh, hey. Announcers need your wrestling name. You got one yet? On his autobiographical sitcom, Young Rock, Johnson recounts how he started wrestling at WMCTV in Memphis under the name Flex Cavanaugh. I'm working in Memphis, and man, it was a grind. Eight shows in seven days, week after week. I got some Miller Highlights. Let's celebrate. Nice. And how a friend named Downtown Bruno gave the broke future superstar a place to stay in his rundown trailer. It turns out the trailer park in Walls, Mississippi is still there. Bruno, come here, man. And so is his old friend, Bruno Lauer. Finally, the Rock has came back to Walls, Mississippi. Their old home was pretty much as they'd left it, too. Just watch your step, everybody. Yeah, be careful. No worries. I didn't wear my heels for this portion. And I haven't been here since then. You've not been back. No, this is the first time back, so it's bringing back a lot of memories. What are you thinking? Tracy, I'm so grateful. Grateful to have a friend like Bruno. Grateful to have the opportunity that I had. And, you know, life is just so amazing. It can be, you know? Just truly. Talk about amazing. Dwayne Johnson went on to be a huge success in the wrestling world as The Rock. In 2001, he made the jump to film, and after some early success, Hollywood tried to mold him into a typical leading man. They said, OK, great, but now here's what you have to do. You have to stop working out as much. You have to lose weight. You can't call yourself The Rock. You can't talk about wrestling. Let's stay away from all that. These are all the things they told you. Don't be this anymore. No. That's right. So I tried that. Tracy, I tried getting smaller, losing weight. It all felt wrong. And once you started being yourself... That was it. When that happened, a funny thing happened. Hollywood conformed around me, and years later, I'm sitting here with you. So, while he can bust up the big screen bad guys, he can also sing in an animated Disney feature. I know it's a lot, the hair, the bod, when you're staring at a demigod. And he can be funny, or at least try to be. You know, before this, I used to work in an orange juice factory, but I got canned. Couldn't concentrate. He also owns a wide array of businesses, among them, Terramana Tequila, and it's no secret he likes to drink it as well as sell it. Enjoy your mom. But Dwayne Johnson says his favorite role is dad to his three daughters. His two younger girls are often seen on his Instagram page. So you really enjoy those tea parties? Tracy, I love them. And that's the kind of thing that seems to make the public love him all the more. In fact, he's been talked about seriously as a presidential candidate. A 2021 poll showed nearly half of voters would pick him for the White House. It's even something he and Tom Hanks joked about a few years back when Johnson hosted Saturday Night Live. That kind of sounds like you and me. I guess we got to do it. Come on. But when we asked, Dwayne Johnson told us that a run for the White House was not going to happen. Is running for president off the table now? It's off the table, yes. It is off the table. I will say this because it requires the B side to this. I love our country and everyone in it. I also love being a daddy. And that's the most important thing to me, being a daddy. Number one, especially during this time, this critical time in my daughter's lives, because I know what it was like to be on the road and be so busy that I was absent for a lot of years. My first daughter's growing up in these critical age at this critical time in her life. And that's what the presidency will do. So my number one priority is my daughter's. Sure, CEO sounds great, but the number one thing I want to be is daddy. That's it. Heroes don't kill people. So sure, he can play a hulking superhero, no problem. But in real life, the only thing bigger than Dwayne Johnson's muscles, other than his ambition, just might be his heart. If Black Adam is fueled by rage today, what are you fueled by? Oh, that's a good question. You've been saving that one. That's good. If Black Adam is fueled by rage, I am fueled by passion. I'm fueled by passion. I run to everything I do. Yeah, especially my daughters. So I would say that. I'm fueled by passion. And tequila.