Dwayne Johnson reveals the obstacles he had to overcome and is going through to get to where he is today, one of the biggest actors in Hollywood today.
In an amazing and detailed interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor goes into detail about his life’s ups and downs.
The 6’5 252 pound actor, covered numerous topic during the interview including firing his agents, Paul Walker‘s death and battling depression.
Dwayne Johnson has two major movies coming out in the near future. The Paramount motion picture, ‘Hercules’ and the 2015 Warner Bros. disaster flick, San Andreas. But, these big movie deals did not come easy. He points out in the interview that he had to drop his previous agents in order to get the position he is in now.
All this comes after Johnson reached a turning point in 2011, when, dissatisfied with everything he was making (Tooth Fairy, anyone?), he switched agents (from CAA to WME) and publicists, convinced he could do better. “It was incredibly difficult because you develop a friendship over the years,” he says. “But it just dawned on me: Change has to happen.”
Currently, everyone of his movies is a hit in the box-office. He helped five movies in 2013 make $1.3 billion that is more than any other box office actor last year.
But, it was not all peaches and cream for the actor. He discusses in the interview how he suffered depression after getting dropped from the National Football League.
Which makes it all the more surprising to learn this is the same guy who endured massive upheaval as a child; got into frequent trouble with the law as a teenager; was kicked out of his home at 14; and faced the end of everything he had dreamed about when he was dumped as a professional football player, sending him into a crippling tailspin of despair.
“I didn’t want to do a thing,” he recalls. “I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was crying constantly. Eventually you reach a point where you are all cried out.”
Dwayne Johnson even recounts the tough times he experienced as a kid. We were living in an efficiency that cost $120 a week,” he recalls. “We come home, and there’s a padlock on the door and an eviction notice. My mom starts bawling. She just started crying and breaking down. ‘Where are we going to live? What are we going to do?’ “
But, Dwayne Johnson is not a man that likes to take thing sitting down, after fighting John Cena on WWE he suffered several injuries. These injuries caused the movie ‘Fast and Furious 7’ to be delayed and cost the studio $2 million dollars. After, he got better he traveled to Florida to film scenes in the movie and he received news that his cast member and friend Paul Walker had died in a car crash. “I pulled over and looked at my messages and had a moment where I just caught my breath. We said a prayer right then to give his daughter strength — because we had talked about our daughters. That’s what we would talk about. Both of us were divorced, and we talked about the power of being a dad and the strong connection of a dad and his girl. Then once we got home, we started bawling.”
Dwayne Johnson is becoming one of the biggest actors not in the United States but around the world. According to New Line Cinema president, he is put in the ranks of Will Smith and Tom Cruise.
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Photo Credit: The Hollywood Reporter.
