The Rock talks "Spy Hunter," "Be Cool," "Gridiron Gang," and "Johnny Bravo," and an unannounced sci-fi film, "Species Human!"

Plus, another breaking news: The Rock is likely to star in the upcoming Spy Hunter video game

2005 might be the year of The Rock. The former wrestler will star in at least five films, including the upcoming "Be Cool," "Doom," "Spy Hunter," and "Johnny Bravo." He's also filming "Gridiron Gang," an inspirational football story that is targeting a 2006 release. "The Rock," or Dwayne Johnson, as we might start seeing in the credits, sits down with Latino Review to talk about his action-packed year.

According to The Rock, Spy Hunter is absolutely happening, but there's still some script work left to be done. "With a movie like Spy Hunter, everybody's so excited about it, because conceptually it's great. With the car it's fantastic. It's just a matter of trying to find the right tone. We've looked at script after script. In a way, I give credit to the studio, where they're like, 'It's good, but let's be great.' I love that, and I love that attitude. They're continuing to write it."

In news that should rev the engines of "Spy Hunter" gaming fans, The Rock will likely have considerable involvement in the next video game. "I'll probably do motion-capturing and voice-capturing for the next Spy Hunter game that's coming out. That might come out before the movie--probably will--so I'm excited by that."

The Rock was specifically told that he can't give us plot points about the movie, but he offers a few hints. "It's just a matter of finding the right tone. Of trying to mix a futuristic-James Bond-eque, if you will, with the levity from True Lies."

"Gridiron Gang," a real-life football drama, starts shooting in May. The Rock plays Sean Porter, who used the game of football to get through to some hard-luck kids. "It's a true story about hope. These kids lost hope long ago, and nobody cared about them. This one guy decided to help them. They're all in an institution--up in the hills of Malibu--and they're in for murder, for robbery, for assault, for everything. Sean was a teacher there, and he realized that once these kids get in, they serve their time, they get out, and then they get killed, or they get right back on the streets."

"Even though they're taking their classes and they do what they have to do, they don't respect authority, and they still don't respect themselves. Sean wants to change that. And he thought, 'The only game I know is the game of football.' So he started a football team. And these guys have never played football! Every kid you see in Gridiron Game is a real person. So yeah, I'm excited about that."

The Rock also stars in the upcoming "Be Cool," playing against type by portraying a gay, singing, sensitive bodyguard. "Elliot is Vince Vaughn's partner," The Rock says. "We're the two bad guys in the movie, opposite Chili Palmer (John Travolta). He's in this world that he doesn't want to be in. And at the same time, Elliot knows, 'I've got something to offer; I've got something to offer the world. I want to be in Hollywood. I want to be in show business. I want to sing, I want to dance.'"

"And Elliot's really unique," The Rock continues. "He's this gay Samoan bodyguard who's in the music business. Who wants to get out of the music business; he wants to be in Hollywood; he wants to make movies. His choice of music is interesting, because he loves to sing and play guitar, but he loves to sing old-school country western songs, sung by women. So in the movie, one of my favorite songs is, 'You ain't woman enough to take my man.' You root for Elliot throughout the movie."

Despite his macho, action-film persona, The Rock jumped at the chance to play such a different role. "I love the character. He's a guy who's conflicted, but at the same time he's not afraid to stand up and say, 'I am what I am. I am Samoan. And I am gay. And I like to sing country music by women. And I want to deliver monologues by women. I don't care. And if you don't like it, I'm going to kick your ass all over Hollywood boulevard.'" He laughs, then adds, "And I am on the soundtrack."

In a busy 2005, The Rock will also star as Johnny Bravo. He hasn't revealed much about the film, but says that, "It's very very funny. I think that right now they're taking it out of Warner Brothers and bringing it somewhere else. But to give you guys a little bit of the story. . . I travel to Las Vegas, and I think that my dad is Wayne Newton. So I go to Wayne Newton and I'm like, 'Wayne, you're my dad!' He says that he's not. And I point to this woman and I say, 'That's my mom--you're my dad!' He says, 'That's your mom? Hmm. Well, I could be, but I know I'm not. But you know who your dad is for sure?' And it turns out it's Tom Jones."

The Rock is also developing his own project about King Kamehameha, the Hawaiian king who united all of the islands.  "I've always liked to refer to him as 'The Braveheart of Hawaii.'" The Rock says.  "Only he kills his own people when they didn't listen."

For the first time, The Rock mentioned a new science fiction project that is in development at Universal, a futuristic film called "Species Human." The Rock tells us that, "I've never actually talked about this, but it's called 'Species Human.' It's a great sci-fi movie. Basically, the world as we know it has already ended. I'm in a zoo, part of many different creatures, from many different planets. It's interesting." He laughs, and says that the plot is much more detailed than that, but that's all he can tell us.

Rumors about The Rock's involvement with a potential "Conan" or "Terminator" film, however, are completely unfounded. The Rock says that he has no plans to star in either of those franchises.