You heard it here first everyone: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be nominated for an Academy Award within the next five years. Yup. This guy.
I'll admit that it is often difficult to take him seriously, and so likely you won't take me seriously. I mean just look at his shirt in the third picture. He's been in some terrible movies, I won't deny that. But frankly who hasn't?
I'll also admit that I am a HUGE The Rock fanboy. There was a time in my life, up until I was about 10 or 11, that I knew as much about the WWF (I refuse on principal to refer to it as WWE) as I did any other sport. I idolized the wrestlers, memorized the finishing moves, ogled the divas, mastered the video games, EVERYTHING. And the Rock was by far my favorite, and when the Rock left pro wrestling to pursue his acting career was around the time I stopped tuning in. But my enthusiasm for the Rock hasn't changed. In fact during my senior year of college, the WWE announced that there would be a special guest host for Wrestlemania XXXIILV whatever, and the rumor was it was going to be The Rock! I tuned into Monday Night Raw for the first time in years on the night of the announcement. I was breathless with anticipation. Here's a clip (good stuff starts around 1:00).
Did you get chills? I was having a delirious emotional breakdown, my own Tom Cruise on Oprah moment. All the memories started coming back.
I think the world of this guy, and he will forever be linked to my childhood. But even as legendary as a wrestler he is, I think he has the chops to be a special actor as well, and, under the right circumstances, turn in a performance capable of attracting the attention of the Academy. Here's why
1) He's a tremendous performer. Now if all you've seen from the Rock is The Tooth Fairy or Journey 2 then I'd imagine you might laugh in my face. But any of you that watched wrestling during the WWF Attitude era knows that The Rock was not just an incredibly gifted wrestler and a hulking specimen. His physical gifts were almost irrelevant. There were a lot of big guys in the WWF, but that's not why my brother and cousins and I would scarf down whatever my grandma made for Sunday dinner, scramble into her basement and fight over couch space to watch Sunday Night Heat. This is why.
There are dozens of clips just like this on YouTube; I know this because I just watched them all. In the world of pro wrestling, no one was better with a mic in his hand. No one was better at selling a fight Notice his use of pauses. His evangelical inflection. His sense of dramatic and comedic timing. But most of all, notice his energy. How he builds to an eruptive finish that sends an audience of 30,000 Texans, and the millions (and millions!) watching at home into a frenzy. That's not just hammy schtick...well it is, but it's innate hammy schtick. You can't teach it.
2) His career is hitting its stride.
The Rock is in everything. I feel like every trailer I watch now has half the shot filled by his biceps alone. He works a ton and he's a huge draw, so the fact that he's in a good number of bad movies is mathematical. He gets paid a lot to do a lot of movies. He clearly had a chat with Eddie Murphy.
I cannot wait to see Pain and Gain, the upcoming Michael Bay-directed movie about bodybuilders who turn into criminals, because it is considerably different than his norm. Look at the cast! Mark Wahlberg. Ed Harris. Tony Shalhoub. Anthony Mackie. Real actors! Would you have ever imagined The Rock alongside actors like that, or doing even a semi-serious movie? It's becoming clearer with everything he does that The Rock is as talented as he is marketable. He's still doing the popcorn action flicks, as he should. He is arguably the biggest action star in the world right now, and movies like Hercules: The Thracian Wars and Lore are his bread and butter. But it's becoming clear that the Brahma Bull is interested in being more than that.
3) All it takes is the right role, the right script, the right director. Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights comes to mind, as does Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, even George Clooney in Up in the Air. These are actors were put in roles that, in a way, reflected their own struggles. Burt Reynolds in his character unearths his own prolific career in the film industry and his quest to be taken seriously. Mickey Rourke samples his own self destruction and self alienation. Clooney addresses his inability to settle down, never really being tied to anyone.
Pain and Gain could have been that role for The Rock, but what worries me is not the People's Champion's acting chops, but I just don't think much of Michael Bay or that PG-13 rating. What it would take is a director who can humanize the The Rock. As I mentioned, he's such a larger than life figure. He's done that role about a million times, and at this point you're really not going to change that. But now I want to see him vulnerable. The perfect role for him would be one in which his character is unable to solve the problems he is facing in his journey despite his overwhelming physical strength, or maybe even because of it. If you've read Things Fall Apart or The Rock's autobiography The Rock Says...(you likely haven't, but it is a tremendous read) you understand the internal conflict I'm talking about. The Rock struggled mightily in his life before stardom; he floated aimlessly around Canadian Football League practice squads and the minor league professional wrestling circuit, living in the shadow of his own father who is a legend in that world. There is a lot from his own life that The Rock could draw from in creating such a character. Audiences love stories about fallen heroes, tales of strong men made weak by the circumstances that surround them. The Rock is made for a role like that.
Maybe I'm just blinded by my devotion to The Rock, but there's a lot of actors in my opinion who have greatness in them but just need an opportunity (Charlie Day anyone?). But frankly if you can't see it and continue to typecast "the most electrifying man in all of entertainment", you can take your narrow, close-minded opinion, turn that sumbitch sideways, and stick it straight up your candy ass! IF YAAA SMEEEEELLLLALALALALAOWWWW WHAT THE ROCK. IS. COOKING. Cue the music.
THE ROCK > EVERYTHIN
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