Inside The Rock's Life as Hollywood's Richest and Most Famous Actor _ 360 with Speedy

The people's eyebrow, is that what it's called? Yeah, man. Don't act like you don't know. No, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misquoting. Was that it? Is it? Is it The Rock? Is that your name? What's going on, guys? I'm Speedy, and the name of this show is 360 with Speedy, and today I am joined by a man whose mom calls him Dewey, but we'll call him Dwayne The Rock Johnson. DJ, what's up, man? How are you? What's up, brother? How's everything? Good to see you. Everything is good, man. Good to see you. Red One is the new film. It'll be out November 15th. It's a holiday, Christmas type of movie. We'll talk about that in just a sec, but in the meantime, let's jump back to the beginning. Things weren't always like this for you. You weren't always this movie star, and beautiful Rolex watches. Oh, thank you, man. Humble beginnings. It's a Folex. Is it? No. What was life like for you before all of this? Well, first of all, I want to say that this life, what I live today, was not in my thoughts when I was a kid. I never thought that ... This wasn't the North Star. The North Star was not, oh, I want to be whatever we call this. My North Star was, as simple as it sounds, I just didn't want to be broke. That was my North Star. My dad, for a lot of people who don't know, my old man was a pro wrestler, and he was a bad dude in the game, but at that time in pro wrestling, he came up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, where wrestling wasn't as global as it is today, where these guys are making a lot of money. We had lived a good life, always on the road. He was always gone. Any opportunity I had to bond with him, I was the only child, was just going on the road. Then he would take me to the gym and stick me in the corner, and just say, sit there. But then as I got a little older, my dream, my North Star became the NFL. That's what I wanted to do. And yeah, so things for me, I always say I had this seven bucks moment, was when I got cut from the CFL. And seven bucks was all you had, huh? I had a five. A dollar and some change. And some change, dude, yeah. It might not have even been seven bucks. No, but I rounded up. It was like 6.80. But seven bucks sounds a lot better. I was optimistic, so I rounded up. You used to drive around Canada looking for mattresses with as little blood as possible on it? Yeah, we did. You've done your research. So when I got to Canada for the CFL, it was me and four other dudes living in one apartment. And I was making 275 bucks per week on the practice squad, Canadian. And so my buddy at that time, who was a player on the team, he goes, hey, there's a motel down the road that they always throw out their mattresses every six months. It's about that time. And we get there, and it's one of those hourly sex motels. So you can imagine the ---- that was on those mattresses. Just blood and some other stuff. Yeah, blood and other stuff. Just take the Lysol bottle and brand new sheets, and it all goes away. Sexiest man alive. How does it feel to sit across from him? It's very humbling. That's what I was thinking that when we started the interview. No, thank you. Thank you. Really, though, in 2016, you were crowned the sexiest man alive. How does it feel to get an honor like that? Are you moving different when something like that happens? If they told me I was the sexiest man alive, I'm talking different. I'm moving different. Yes. That's just me. Yes. But you try not to make it too obvious. Right? You still try. You want to be cool in the pocket. Yeah. It's like scoring a touchdown. You want to act like you've been there before, but you still want to show out. That's a fun title. I always like to say, for me, that's in perpetuity. Yeah. It's not just a one-year thing, like 2016. Oh, no, brother. Lifetime achievement. No, I don't give it up. I tell People magazine. I tell them all the time. They're all my friends. I don't give a ----. You can give it to whoever you want to every year, but I'm always going to be. Yeah, that's fine. Do you remember what it feels like to not be famous? Yeah, way back in the day. I've been famous for some time, but yes, I remember what that's like. I love that you asked that, because it reminds me of something that people always ask me. They say, do you ever get tired of it? Tired of, you can't go out, everything is backdoor, through the kitchen, nothing is in through the front door, hotels, it doesn't matter. Everything is a setup. Everything is, you've got to call ahead, and you can't go anywhere. Malls and walks, that's not in my cards anymore. They said, do you get tired of that? I went, no, never. It's true, because the alternative to that is going back to those days. You just bought up, where I wasn't famous, and no one cared. No one gave a ----. Not that my thought was, oh, I want people to care. It's just, at that time, that reminds me of a time where things were hard, and I didn't have any money, and I don't want to go back to that. Flea market Rolexes. Flea market, brother. I will never complain about fame. Also, I feel the best part of fame is just being able to create experiences with people when I meet people. It's been quite some time since you've been able to, in your words, walk through the front door of places. When's the last time you've been on a regular commercial plane, like a regular airline flight? I think a couple of years ago. Yeah. Like a couple, or like? No, if I go, it's usually a couple of years, and usually it's if there's a problem, like these are just champagne problems. Yeah, and it's crazy. It's crazy. So, it started getting crazy for me when I became famous as The Rock in wrestling, early 2000s. So, that was a level of fame that I didn't expect, but it happened. At that time, if you remember, WWE was on fire. But then, once I transitioned into Hollywood, and you become well-known globally in another way, that's a whole other level. So, airports and airplanes just don't mesh well. No. By the way, so what would happen is I'd get on the planes, and I'd get on last, if it's a commercial flight, I'd sit down. What I like to do is, I would have, back then, I'd buy the seat next to me, so there's nobody next to me, and I'll fall asleep. When I wake up, there's notes here, and I don't want to go into the notes, because then people are watching to see, oh, he's reading our notes. Then, I go to the bathroom. I go to the bathroom, and it happens all the time. I'm like, all right. When I'm done in the bathroom, I'm thinking, okay, what's going to be on the other side of this door? And usually, when I open the door- Is it a crowd or something? Yeah, everybody's waiting. Yeah, no, that's a nightmare. And you can't get off the plane, you just gotta wait. Yeah, that's tough. I'm not complaining, though. No, but I'm sure it's comfortable to fly a jet, I'm sure. Very, yeah, absolutely. And then, also, it does allow me to just get a lot of work done, too, as well, because you don't have the distractions. You can just focus. I have an office space in the back where I get all my stuff done. There's a conversation that happens in hip-hop now where some of the bigger stars don't do press. They just don't. They don't talk to the media. They don't promote their stuff in the same way that they once used to. You, at your level of success, have taken almost the exact opposite approach. Why have you found a value in press, and why do you still continue to do media when you really don't have to? Well, I feel like it's part of the overall plan. I think it's part of the overall strategy. And I think, for me, I've always felt that, as you know, because you sit across and you talk to a lot of people in music, film, TV, culture, and there's a lot of people who work on your behalf, and there's a lot of money usually invested in whatever the thing is. But I've always felt like, at the end of the day, when you strip it all away, it all comes down to me to be able to promote the thing that I'm trying to promote. And I appreciate everybody's help, and we all do it together as a team, but ultimately, it's my project, and I want to talk about it. And I could talk about it with passion, and with love behind it, and give you anecdotes, and ideas, and perspectives on it, and what the message could be, and things like that. So I don't quite understand that, and I also feel that... I have a few buddies who hate doing press. But I always tell them, I'm like, man, this is actually the easy part for me, because you're talking about the thing you love. The hard part, to me, is going to do it, and putting in the grind, and actually filming. But I'm curious, what's, from your vantage point, what you hear? What's their reason not to? Sometimes they say that they feel like the person sitting in my seat could try to get salacious information out of them, or... Also, the other thing is, a lot of hip-hop artists have taken this approach where less is more, and so they want to kind of be cryptic, or they want to paint this version of mystery of some sort, like mystique. Do you find, as artists, they're looking for creative ways to create a new paradigm when it comes to promoting? Sometimes, or sometimes they just don't promote. And they just count on the art to speak for itself. Which, for some, will work, and for some, won't. Like, Drake drops an album today, whether he does an interview or not, he's going to sell 300,000 albums in the first week. Not everyone has that luxury. Just like you. You could not do interviews and still have a billion-dollar box office hit. Whereas, the up-and-coming guy or the mid-tier actor can't afford to not do press in the same way. Yeah, sure. It's just a balance. Well, my recommendation to the actors who are coming up, and look, I'm not in the music business, even though I think I am, in terms of my bars. Yeah, you got a joint that we all heard, that TikTok loves. I appreciate it. That was all right. They took good care of me on that one. You talk about the Tech N9ne one? Tech N9ne, yeah. Yeah, man. That's a talented dude. But, yeah, I would always recommend that you, and also, too, I believe in controlling the controllables with our own two hands. That's the stuff you can control. Yeah. So, I'm less concerned about somebody trying to get salacious or asking me something about if something's clickbait, because I can still control my answer. Right. You've been getting money for a long time. Almost 30 years ago, you signed your first big contract. I think you were making $150,000 a year. $150,000. For five years. Yes. You've come quite a long way, because now- Well, let me give you context for people out there. $150,000 is a lot of money. Five years, add it up, that's a lot of money. But, at that time, it was for wrestling 230 dates a year. Yeah, less than $1,000 a day. Okay, so break that down. It's not great money. I'm getting beat up in suplex. Yeah, yeah. And when you break it down, it's not great money per thing, for sure. Yeah, but it's a great money load. But, now, a quick Google search says that your net worth is $800 million. Is that accurate? Oh, I don't know. Does it feel accurate? Like, when you look at your lifestyle, does it feel like it's on par? Well, I go low-key with my lifestyle. I usually do, despite all this ----. Yeah, you know, I've worked hard. I've gotten a pretty good anchor of finances. Look, I came from $7. $6.80. $6.80, I came from $6.80, yes. I was driving up I-75 from Miami to Tampa. My dad was driving me. I didn't have a car. I was 22 years old. And I just got cut from the CFL. And we were driving. And it was in the middle of the night, because he had to come pick me up. And I said, how much money do I have, man? Let me look. I looked, and I had a 501 and 80 cents. And so, that kind of stuff will define you, man. And that stuff, for me, is probably why I need a therapist. Like, that's the kind of ---- that stays here in the forefront of my mind. But it helps motivate you to do more, I'm sure. Well, that's all I was going to say, brother. People close to me in my circle, my orbit, know. To me, I'm a week away from getting evicted again. I'm a week away from having that $7. So I keep that. And yeah, it motivates me. I think a lot of people who have reached a level of success have interesting relationships with some of the things that got them there. Like, Will Smith was on the show. And he hates the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. Because it's obviously important to his journey. But by now, he's over it. Why does he hate it? He's performed it a gazillion times. He heard it. People always expect that from him. And you hear that from a lot of artists and actors and actresses and whatever. I'm wondering what's your relationship like with the eyebrow? The people's eyebrow? Is that what it's called? Yeah, man. Don't act like you don't know. No, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misquoting it. Was that it? Is it? Is it The Rock? Is that your name? Do you still love it? Is it become almost like zoo animal-y when people see you and they're like, Hey, can you do the eyebrow thing? How does it feel for you? I get it. People ask me that all the time. Do the eyebrow. Do you do it? I'll always have fun with it. Got to, man. Yeah. Look, I did that ---- in high school. That's where it comes from. I used to, that was my way of just messing with girls. You know? Come on. That kind of thing. And then that just, I took that into WWE and then some wacky way turned that into this iconic thing with the character The Rock. So, these, you know, something like that. I get, here's the three things I get. Can you sing, you're welcome, from, I get that all the time. And do the eyebrow. And do, if you smell, like that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, no, I got a good relationship with all that, man. How do you, at this point of your career, handle failure? And what does failure look like to you today? Yeah, I love that question. So, I don't see failure when it comes to like a box office win or loss or anything like that. I don't measure things in that way anymore. Because you just know that when it comes to box office, you know, there's so much pressure and attention put on the opening weekend. And the opening weekend is important. Here domestically, which a lot is judged on. But these are global movies. And they play around the world. And here in the US, this is one market. And then there's the UK. Then there's Germany. Then there's Asia. And everywhere else around the world. So, there's a long tail to that. That never gets reported. And that's why I don't worry about, oh, this is what it opened to on the weekend. No. These days for me, I love this question. These days for me, where I'm at in my life, failure is measured by me as a human being. And me as a man. Me as a father. I got three daughters, various ages. Twenties, eight, six, all girls. So, I find myself these days being more reflective and contemplative about being a dad and a man. And especially because I grew up and I had a complicated relationship with my own man. But I learned so much from him. But also a lot of the stuff that I didn't want to be and I don't, which is kind of crazy. Yeah. As we've all gone through that. So, I measure in that way, in terms of failure. And what I also did, man, I understood the value of not calling it a failure and just calling it a lesson. And I just realized that our brain is always listening to us. So, when we say stuff, like, oh, man, I really fucked up. This thing happened. I'm this or I'm that. It gets in there. Yeah. It's hard to get it out, too. Yeah. What do you think is the relationship, if any, between success and sacrifice? They go hand in hand. I think one can't be achieved without the other. Because I've found in life is in order to succeed at whatever it is that you want to succeed, you're going to have to sacrifice some stuff. And I think especially if you're in a job that requires you to be away on the road, travel, and especially in entertainment and in sports, too, as well. And those are two places that I've gone back and forth with for many, many years. So I feel like there's a lot of sacrifice that happens when you're trying to climb the mountain and you're trying to climb that ladder and you're trying to do the thing, your North Star, whatever that is. Yeah. Have you found that? Yes. I think there's a clear correlation between sacrifice and success. And you said it more eloquently than I could. But I don't think you can be successful without sacrificing in some capacity. Yeah. Whether it's time with family or time to have fun. It's got to get sacrificed in order to. Got to get sacrificed. And then in your words, you don't want to just get to the mountain top. You want to build more mountain. Build more mountain, man. Yeah. But I also think that the key is acknowledging that, OK, I'm sacrificing some things. So let me be a little bit more present. One of the keys to that is just acknowledging that you're sacrificing things. And what I found for me is what's helped is realizing, OK, I'm sacrificing a lot of stuff here. And it's just allowed me then to be more present. Yeah. With where I needed to be. You know, at home, with the babies, as a father, man, etc. One thing I do is like a lot of research on the people that I'm sitting across from so I can ask like intentful questions. And I was talking to the head talent booker here last night. But in like preparation for this. Who we met years ago on 106th Park. Yeah, 106th Park. Shout to Ant. In our conversation yesterday, you, if I'm honest, don't seem like you have a lot of fun. Like when I watch your stuff, it's like, OK, it seems like of the 365 days, we on Instagram, on any social media, have not seen a single day off. We've not seen a ******* missed workout. We've not seen a parking ticket, even like the image is beautifully clean and like you're always working. It's like, is that image as accurate as we feel it is? Do you have fun? Do you enjoy this? Are you like, where are you at? Man, I love this question. I really do. I have fun, man. I have fun all the time. You just don't see it. Right. So, you know, social media, I feel like everybody curates their social media to fit whatever the thing is that they want the people to see them as. And for somebody who was very adverse to social media years ago, I never got it, didn't understand it, didn't want to do it. I thought, well, who cares about what hamburger I'm going to eat or what you're going to put on your whatever. Then I thought, well, wait a second, maybe there's a way that I could utilize social media to connect with people more. And Dana White helped with that, didn't he? Dana was the one. Yeah. Years ago, Dana was like, you have to do this. Allow you to connect with people. Dana and I always laugh about that today. So, but also when it comes to fun and things like that, yeah, I haven't. I try to post some of that stuff, too, as well. What I found, though, is the more lucky and fortunate I get if I continue to climb and build more mountain, what I found that a lot of people continue to respond to. The fun stuff, yeah, for sure. You'll see moments of fun if you look at my page, but also what I found that a lot of people respond to is really the work part because the more I am able to fortunately build, then a lot of times it's easy for people to forget that, man, there's so much work that gets put into this. So, it's the reveal of here's the thing that I'm building, but let me just show you at four in the morning, like, this kind of stuff is happening. Yeah, and that ---- just is not fun. Yeah. You know? It's not, but it's necessary. But let me ask you. You asked for a reason. Like, is that something, like, would you, as your friend, would you be like, hey, dude, I want to see you. I want to make sure that you're having more fun. Yeah, because that's the type of ---- I like to watch, though, you know? Yeah. Like, I feel like, this is me personally. Like, life can get mundane at times, and, like, when I don't want to go to work, like, I don't want to watch someone else go to work either. You know what I'm saying? So, like, if I'm not at a place where I can enjoy ----, like, I would like to watch somebody else enjoy something. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Yes. I would like to see you enjoy the fruits of your labor as, like, a spectator. You know what I'm saying? Instead of just only seeing you grind. Yes. You feel me? But that, I'm just, I'm a small sample size. I'm just one. You know what I mean? Yes, yes, yes. But that's just me. I was just scrolling. I was scrolling, and I'm like, damn, yo, this guy is always, like. Well, give me an idea of fun. You mean, like, what? Well, what do you do for fun, though? Like, that's the thing. Like, I've seen you fish twice, maybe. And it's, like, at your crib. It's like, you don't even leave. No! It's like, fun for you is, like, waking up at sunrise and driving and looking at your land, which is cool. Yeah. But, like, and maybe that is your fun, you know? Yeah. But it's just like, it's just like, you know. Like, enjoying, yeah, that's the thing. I got to think about that. Because, you know, I'm not a big car guy. Yeah. Like, check my whip out. Right, right, right. So I'm not a yacht guy. I don't do that. I just, yeah. That's just me, though. Yeah. Don't let me taint ----. No, you're not. But you make me think about it, though, man. I appreciate that. Good. If I can inspire a thought to you, I'm honored. Have fun, yeah. Yeah, have fun. Or more fun. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. I like that. One wrestling question for you. Yeah. If somebody had never seen wrestling before, and Alien comes to Earth, and they're like, hey, tell me about this wrestling thing, and you want to show them or explain to them everything that wrestling is, from the emotional perspective, the physical characteristic, what event would it be? That's cool. I would say, I would say, come check out of Wrestlemania. Come with me, Alien, and come check out of Wrestlemania. And we've worked for the entire year of storyline after storyline, meaning good versus bad, the ups and downs, ebbs and flows, and it's all going to culminate to this big event in some big stadium, and there's going to be fireworks, there's going to be explosions. But which Wrestlemania would you recommend them to go back and watch if they weren't going to go see a future one? I love that. Wrestlemania 1, Madison Square Garden. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. For sure. Lastly here, the film Red One is out November 15th. What do you want people to take away from this? Like, why a Christmas movie, and what list would you have been on as a kid? Well, first of all, naughty list. Yeah, I'm still on the naughty list. Are you? I don't know if that ever goes away. I think the ---- I did in the past, I think, made me forever, like, perennial on the naughty list. Those Waikiki storefront, the luxury stores? Wow, you did your research, man. Yeah, a little Prada here, Chanel. We did all that. We were the reason why they put in, you know, these big security systems. Just for everybody, let me give context. We had a little crew back in Hawaii when we were our early teens. You were a kid. The statute of limitations is that. There you go. We were kids, man. Why a Christmas movie, Red One? I had never made a Christmas movie before. I love Christmas. And I thought, well, if we're going to make a Christmas movie, let's try and create something that is unique and different. Take Christmas lore, flip it on to Ted. And also something hopefully with a good message. And I like this particular message because it's the message of, you know, the world's loud. It's noisy. There's a lot of ---- happening in the world. A lot of shaming, blaming, finger pointing, all the stuff that everybody's dealing with. But as Santa Claus says, J.K. Simmons in our movie says this to me, he just says, you know, it's our job to find the child in everybody. You look past that veneer of whether it's pessimism or whatever it is, and that child in people can bring you right back to the stuff of what's important, which is be good to people, man. Beautiful. Well said. All right, well, The Rock, thank you for sitting down. I enjoyed this, man. I enjoyed it a lot, too. I really did. Red One is out November 15th. Make sure you guys go grab tickets. Go check it out with the fam. The Rock, I appreciate you. And I'm going to have more fun. I hope so. I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you.