Race to Witch Mountain star Dwayne Johnson talks to Joanna Hunkin about becoming a kid-friendly action hero and the remake of the Disney classic
Dwayne Johnson doesn't wear hot pants anymore. Nor does he go by his old wrestling moniker, "The Rock". But as the burly actor sits down in Hong Kong to discuss his latest film, it's clear he hasn't completely forgotten his wrestling past, as he and director Andy Fickman tag each
other in to entertain the crowd.
They make an unlikely pair. At 1.9m, Johnson is a bruising hulk of a man with flawless cafe creme skin and teeth as white as driven snow. (Really, they are the whitest teeth you will ever see. Blindingly white.)
Fickman is, well, the opposite. As he sits back in the hotel armchair to discuss the pair's new film, his legs swing freely as his feet struggle to find the ground.
But despite outward appearances, the pair are curiously similar.
Both beam with childlike enthusiasm as they discuss the film - a reimagining of the Disney classic Escape from Witch Mountain - and have an obvious admiration, even love, for one another.
"Aside from being twins," Fickman jokes, "we have very similar tastes.
"Whether it's a comedy or an action movie, we both have the same tastes. We are constantly giving each other scripts going 'do you want to do that one?', 'Nah, what about that one?'
"In Hollywood, both of our agencies now play well together. If Dwayne's getting offered a movie, there's a good chance my name will come up and if I'm being offered a movie, there's a good chance Dwayne's name will come up."
Race to Witch Mountain - an action-adventure film about two alien children sent to Earth to save mankind - marks the pair's second collaboration together. The first was the 2007 Disney comedy The Game Plan, which earned an impressive US$144 million ($255 million) worldwide and saw the two men welcomed into the Disney family.
It was while Fickman was editing The Game Plan that he began planning his next project and realised his leading man was already in front of him.
"Every day I'm looking at Dwayne in the editing room and I'm like, 'Hmm, who could I find that is 6'4 and built with lots of muscles?"' Fickman giggles exuberantly.
Already a fan of the original film, it wasn't a hard sell to get Johnson on board. Especially with his friend Fickman at the helm. "The original was a classic, and any time you remake or reimagine a classic, you're treading on sacred ground," explains Johnson.
"This is where it's important to know what type of movie you want to make ... and that you have people who are passionate and who have a great love and affection for the source material.
"Andy is a big kid at heart and loved the original."
Fickman was indeed a fan of the 1975 classic and as such, had no interest in remaking the film.
"I liked it too much. ... I think I'd be too self-conscious if I tried to remake it. The original is fine just as it is," he says.
Likewise, when Disney approached him with a comedy script for the film, Fickman wasn't sold. Instead, he pitched the idea of an action adventure film, which Disney quickly agreed to.
But the film is not your typical Disney movie, says Fickman, a self-confessed horror junkie and sci-fi nut.
Born in Roswell, New Mexico, the director grew up on tales of UFOs and aliens and was eager to push some boundaries in the film.
"Every once in a while when we could do a good scare, people would be like 'how scary do you want to go?' And I'd be like, 'Scary! Let's knock it out of the park a little bit here'," he says animatedly.
"Race to Witch Mountain isn't the Disney film you might expect. They let me go much more with the action, much more with the dark nature of it.
"It's not a big, poppy, colour movie. It doesn't play to kids.You want kids to go enjoy it but that's not the type of movie it is. It's a movie made for everybody."
One kid who has seen parts of the film, and enjoyed them, is Johnson's 7-year-old daughter, Simone. Race to Witch Mountain is one of three family-friendly films Johnson will star in this year, but the actor maintains it is not a deliberate move on his part.
"It was just coincidental the material moved me and I thought it would entertain audiences," he says.
Though he does consider his daughter when choosing roles, he says he is not intentionally making films that she can watch now.
"As a responsible parent you think about that. As her dad, I love the idea of making movies that she can one day watch. But it's not a conscious thought. You just can't think that way.
"If you're committed to what you're doing and believe in it, then eventually, you hope, she'll be proud of it."
That philosophy has seen Johnson turn down several roles throughout his eight-year acting career - he made his feature film debut in 2001 as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns - as he has tried to forge a serious acting career.
Race to Witch Mountain marks the first film Johnson has dropped his wrestling name "The Rock" from the billing, a sign the actor has finally moved away from his WWF origins.
"I identified early on, when I broke into the business, the type of actor I wanted to be.
"I wanted to be the type of actor who had a broad foundation, had the ability to work in every genre.
"The challenge I had was to not be pigeonholed into the action genre, which meant I had to pass on a lot of scripts," he explains. "I was waiting for just the right moment to come along, where I could inject a little bit of humour, a little bit of humanity into the role."
Jack Bruno - the Vegas cab driver who helps his two alien charges on their Earth mission - is just such a role. And typical of the characters and stories Fickman makes.
"The types of movies he likes to make are movies with a good message; where the hero of the movie becomes a better man," explains Johnson.
"He might not be a great man, but he does become better."
LOWDOWN
Who: Dwayne Johnson stars as Jack Bruno in Race to Witch Mountain, directed by Andy Fickman.
What: A modern reimagining of the Disney classic Escape from Witch Mountain (1975)
When: In cinemas April 9
That local connection: Johnson, a former pro-wrestler, spent a year in Auckland as a child, where he attended Richmond Rd Primary School. Johnson says he has fond memories of his time in New Zealand and still has many family members living here. He hasn't been back to the country since he lived here but says he is just looking for an excuse to come back.
Also: The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2009 will screen exclusively on Nickelodeon NZ on April 25, 5pm. Repeated April 26, 9am, 3pm and 8pm; April 27, 7pm; April 29, 3pm; and May 1, 6.30pm