IGN's interview with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson on Green Lantern Movie Rumors

IGN was among the select press outlets invited to chat with actor Dwayne Johnson on Monday at CinemaCon about his new movie Hercules, during which time The Rock was also asked about those nagging rumors of him playing the John Stewart Green Lantern for DC and Warner Bros.

Here's what Johnson had to say about that, returning to Fast & Furious 7 after the death of Paul Walker, and his other future projects.


Question: Where are you heading as an actor as far as what you want to do next and where you want to go? Do have other projects you want to start doing?

Johnson: Yeah, sure. The whole idea is just to continue to make movies that I enjoy playing and that audiences are going to enjoy me in. So franchises are always fun, because they're big, and a lot of people like to go and escape and have fun with them. There are some serious roles too -- Not Without Hope, for example. Television too; I've been enjoying that. Creating things I think, especially as an actor -- wanting to bring to the table things that have never been done before, but also making sure they're of high quality and not having a fear. For example, if we're going to do something with TV or cable -- like at TNT, with Wake Up Call -- I didn't want to play by what rules are in Hollywood, so to speak. "I'm not too sure if you should do that at a cable network or not." Didn't matter to me. So we did that; it was an HBO show that we had. There's a lot of different things like that. So our whole idea is just to put out quality on a lot of different levels.



Question: You've become part of the family in the Fast & Furious films -- I think "family" is exactly the right word for those movies. How does a family move on with the loss of one of the major members of it?

Johnson: Well, as best you can. You know, we've all dealt with that kind of loss before, where it jolts us and it jolts our hearts. I think it also has a way of informing us. Loss like that also has a way of making us love better, love stronger, appreciate our loved ones and our family that much more, when we wake up and when we go to bed. How families deal with loss, everyone has their own process. The biggest pain I felt was for his family, his daughter. You know, we had talked about that a multitude of times, how cool it is to be a dad; there's that really special bond between a dad and his little girl. She'll always be his little girl. We talked a lot about that. So my biggest pain was for his family and for his daughter, mom and dad. But as far as for the movie family that he had, it just takes time. You just need space, and space was created. The studio took a moment, took a beat, created a lot of space too. You know, you move forward one day at a time with it. As a family, they move forward one day at a time and get through it. Then I think the movie family and the studio and the movie itself, they move forward one day at a time too, and as respectfully as you can.

Question: How important is it for you guys to really honor him with the next one and make sure that it's a fitting finale for that character?

Johnson: It's very important for everybody involved, of course. It's not easy, and it's a challenge when you have something like this -- a beloved person. Paul, as you guys know, he was truly one of the good guys -- a great dude, who didn't take himself seriously, loved what he did, understood the business of the business. You got the real-deal, genuine guy when you got him. So it's important for everybody to creatively honor him in the best way that we possibly can.

Question: Were you able to film a cameo as a G.I. Joe character in Transformers 4, because a lot people are waiting for G.I. Joe to meet Transformers?

Johnson: [Laughs] No, no, I was not. We talked about it, but no, I didn't get a chance to.

IGN's Jim Vejvoda: I've gotta ask -- you replied to a tweet of mine a few months ago.

Johnson: I remember! Yeah, man.

Question: Right, the John Stewart hashtag. What's up with that? What's going on there with the whole namedropping John Stewart thing? I'm curious.

Johnson: I love John Stewart!

Question: So let's address the green elephant in the room. Are you going to be Green Lantern?

Johnson: [Laughs] Okay, well since you asked. We're all friends. So, you know, there's been mutual interest with myself and DC for many years to find the right character. I, like everyone here in the room, love superheroes. So there's been mutual interest with us for years, and we've been having ongoing discussions, myself and DC, for years about the right character, what the right character would be. That's another thing, too: it had to be right.

Question: It was going to be Black Adam for awhile, right?

Johnson: Well, here's the thing -- so we've been having these ongoing discussions. I won't tell you who it is, but I'll tell you the three qualities we're looking for, okay? This is going to be fun!



Question: Does he wear a ring?

Johnson: [Laughs] Can't say that, but here we go. Here are three qualities. The first quality we were looking for was that he had to be extremely complex and have a lot going on. What that does for me as an actor and the studio is it gives us space that we can explore; his complexities. The other quality was that he had to -- the character we were looking for had to be well-known but never brought to life. Then what that does again as an actor, it gives me a little bit of space, and we talked about personality. It just gives me a chance to put an imprint into his personality, with the set of tools that I could bring to the table and put a very unique twist on his personality, but still pay homage to who he is. The third thing -- and most important -- is he had to be a badass motherfucker, okay, and on a Superman level of power, where could throw down. In those three qualities, I'm happy we've found that character. Right now, we're out to a lot of writers.

Question: Do you think maybe you'll be at Comic-Con saying for certain what it is?

Johnson: Comic-Con or CinemaCon?

Question: Comic-Con. We'll give you some time.

Johnson: Yeah, I think time, man! We need to find a writer. When is that, June? July? Yeah, possibly. So how about that? He had to be well-known --

Question: I have a question about this. This all sounds very cool. I think a lot of us have an idea of who it might be, but I'm definitely curious if this is a character that you could be cameoing in another franchise, or if this is something that you are doing on your own, with your own movie?

Johnson: Possibly, but we haven't discussed that -- not you and I, but in terms of me and DC. [Laughs] But possibly, sure. You never know.

Question: Have you guys talked about when another G.I. Joe might happen, because I know Jon Chu's doing some other things now.

Johnson: Yeah, yeah. Well, the idea is that we would start shooting G.I. Joe in January, in the first quarter of next year. That's the idea. Look, I love Jon, and I think he did a great job. I get it. He had to go on and do something else. By the way, maybe...

Question: He could still be done by then.

Johnson: Could be, right?

Question: What was it about San Andreas that got you in? Talk a little bit about the character you're playing.

Johnson: Yeah, so I read the script when I was in Budapest, and I loved the script and the idea of being in a disaster movie that felt very real and very grounded, based of course on the San Andreas fault. I did a lot of research on the fault and sat down with geologists over in Budapest. We had a great meeting. So it felt very real and very grounded. The script came in -- by the Hayes Brothers, who wrote The Conjuring, and we're working on some other stuff together. They delivered a great script. Brad Peyton came in and flew to Budapest. We had a couple of directors fly out, but he came in -- not only because of the relationship I'd had with Brad from a movie that we did three or four years ago, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island -- but he came in and had an awesome take. Just visually and stylistically, I think what Brad's going to be able to do with an earthquake movie in 3D -- first 3D earthquake disaster movie ever filmed -- and the opportunity of playing a first responder in the LA fire department was exciting.

Dwayne Johnson filming the earthquake thriller San Andreas.

Question: What kind of tone is it, because it's a huge earthquake movie?

Johnson: Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. So the tone is very serious, and I'm going to save my daughter. We reveal some other things along the way that have happened. Again, it's interesting. Thematically, for me, the family, loss, going to take care of it.

[Shows a picture to give a sense of the tone.]

Question: Are you filming that right now, or filming soon?

Johnson: Yeah, we're going to start filming in Australia. In about two weeks I leave. Then I'll come back. We'll wrap that, so all my stuff will be shot -- the first half of the schedule. Then I'll come back, and I'll see you guys again for the full-on promotion.

Question: So do you guys have a G.I. Joe 3 director yet? Are you still looking?

Johnson: We're still looking, yeah.

Source IGN