What kind of challenges have you faced flexing comic muscles instead of action muscles?

The Rock: I’ve always been a big fan of comedy. Any chance I get an opportunity to do comedy I take it ala The Rundown to a movie like this. There are so many actors involved who are obviously good actors, who aren’t necessarily comedians.

Is this the biggest ensemble that you’ve worked with, in terms of star power?

The Rock: Sure. Absolutely. Let’s see, Mummy Returns and Scorpion King camel was good, but he wasn’t a star.

Is it more comfortable for you knowing that they are relying less on you to carry the movie?

The Rock: Either way, I’m either number one of number five. I think I’m number five. It’s fine. I understand what you’re saying. It’s a little less pressure. I like the pressure too, but with something like this, it’s such a team effort. It’s smartly written and everyone knows their characters.

Are you intimidated at all by the other actors?

The Rock: No, I’m excited. I’m not intimidated at all. Just real excited. To be able to work with Harvey, he’s great. Uma, John and Vince Vaughn.

What’s it like to work in Los Angeles?

The Rock: It’s great. Easy for me because I’m home and coming off the tour that I did with Walking Tall, it’s just nice to come back home. I live 35-40 minutes away, but still, it’s home and you’re here in L.A. There is always something nice to be said about working at home. I live in Florida as well, I might do a comedy based out of Miami.

Do you know what you’re working on next?

The Rock: I’m in pre-production for a movie called Spy Hunter. I’m very excited about that. It’s gonna be with Universal.

Based on the video game?

The Rock: Yeah, it’s awesome.

You get to drive the Spy Hunter car?

The Rock: Of course, The Inteceptor. It’s awesome. The developers, this is what I’m really excited about with the developers. They developed all the Mission: Impossible’s and Terminator 3, all the effects. What’s really cool is, they told me this last week, you can’t visualize this in your head because in our world it doesn’t exist. They’re going to create that. They showed me this cut they already have of this car.

It’ll look like the one in the PlayStation game?

The Rock: It’s actually even better than that. It’s smartly written.

Who else is in it?

The Rock: We haven’t casted it yet. John Woo is in line to direct.

Is he signed?

The Rock: No, he’s not signed yet. So that’s first hand information I’m giving you guys. I just found out this afternoon. He’s in the running. There are other directors.

Would he be at the top of your list as an action director?

The Rock: For an action director, [John Woo]. I firmly believe Clint Eastwood could pull off a great action movie given that type of action from the era that I love. It’s like with Walking Tall if you throw a punch, one punch means something. And not explosions just for the sake of explosions, but we’ll probably have a lot of explosions in Spy Hunter.

Do you have any action sequences in Be Cool?

The Rock: No. Just comedy. It’s funny, I sing a song. It’s crazy. A song by Loretta Lynn called “You ain’t woman enough to take my man”. I’m singing that at the end, which we’ll shoot next week. Then there’s this big dance sequence. So it’s all singing and dancing. What you would expect.

Is the hair all F. Gary Grey?

The Rock: Yeah, absolutely. Gary’s great that way. We got together a long time ago to talk about the character, so between the hair, the goatee, singing the song and keeping the tattoo.

How sensitive do you have to be play a gay Samoan night club singer? Where’s the balance lie in terms of playing that and not playing it camp?

The Rock: I think the balance lies in just finding and performing from a place of honesty. Without sounding too technical, just keeping it real. Here’s a guy in this crazy world, and he wants to get out of this world. At the same time he’s still trying to hide. Not only is he gay but he doesn’t want to be this guy, he doesn’t want to be this bodyguard, he doesn’t want to hurt people. He wants to sing. He wants to act. He wants to do all these things. This is stuff that Gary and I talked about way earlier in the process, not being over the top. Just being more real.

Are you a fan of country music?

The Rock: Yeah, I love Country music. I old school Country. Old school blues.

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