If the world seemed a little bit sluggish this morning – if the birds weren't singing as sweetly, or the sun hung a bit lower in the sky – it might be because Dwayne Johnson didn't work out.
On any other day, Johnson would be up before dawn, clanging and banging on the 45,000 pounds of equipment in the torture chamber of a home gym he calls his Iron Paradise. But not today. Today Johnson slept in until the downright slothful hour of 6 a.m., in a hotel suite in Beverly Hills under the alias Sam Cooke, where he now sits perusing the newspaper while his longtime girlfriend, Lauren Hashian, enjoys a bowl of room-service granola.
The reason for this uncharacteristic idleness? Johnson and Hashian have a two-year-old daughter, Jasmine, and a second child arriving in a few weeks. "We're in the home stretch," says Hashian, rubbing her belly – so they left the toddler with the nanny for the night and snuck off for a little romantic getaway. "We're getting it in now before it's too late." Johnson, padding around the suite in gym socks and a T-shirt that reads BLOOD SWEAT RESPECT, says he and Hashian were originally going to get married this spring in Hawaii. "But then we got pregnant," he says. "And Mama don't wanna take wedding pictures with a big belly – Mama wanna look good." They weren't exactly trying to have another baby. "We were talking about it," he says. "And then all of a sudden I get a text from her with a [picture of a] pregnancy test." Apparently it didn't take much. "All I did was look at her," Johnson jokes. "Guess what. You're pregnant. Baby in you now."
"He just gave me the eyebrow," says Hashian. "Pew. Here's a baby."
Johnson says he's excited. "I had Simone when I was 29" – his older daughter, now 16, whom he had with his ex-wife, Dany Garcia, who's now his manager. (They make it work.) "Guys don't mature until much, much later, so it's nice to be in my fourth level and have babies again." Fourth level – that's a new one. Johnson, 45, grins. "It's better than saying the actual number."
Do they have a name picked out? "I think we do," Hashian says. "We're thinking about Tia. It's simple, it's Polynesian-ish. And I feel like she might come out looking like a Tia. I mean, she could come out any which way, because we're complete opposites" – she's fair and delicate, he's brown and colossal. I love that name, I tell her.
"Yeah?" says Johnson, sounding pleased. "Thank you. You're probably the fourth person who's heard it. It was funny – we were having dinner with Emily Blunt, who I'm getting ready to work with [on Disney's Jungle Cruise], and I said, 'What do you think of Tia?' And she went – beat, beat, beat – 'No one's gonna fuck with a Tia Johnson.' "
Especially not when her father is Dwayne Johnson, roughly the size of a grain elevator. When he was in high school, other kids were suspicious of him because they thought he was an undercover cop. (For the record, a pretty solid pitch for a Dwayne Johnson movie.) Even now, as the most beloved star in Hollywood not named Tom Hanks, Johnson and his giganticness can still give pause. Director Brad Peyton, who's worked with him on three films – including the new monster romp Rampage – says the first time they met, Johnson was dressed as Hobbs, from the Fast & Furious franchise. "I was like, 'Oh, my God – this guy is frighteningly large,' " Peyton says. "I was shitting myself he looked so intimidating. It took me, like, 15 minutes to get over it."
As if to combat this, Johnson carries himself with an abiding gentleness, like a grizzly bear who rolls over so you can rub its belly. On our way to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, we pass a manager who apologizes to him for last night. "Oh, it's all good!" Johnson says. Only after we're out of earshot does he reluctantly relate what happened. It turns out when he got back to the suite around 2 a.m., following a long day of work, Hashian was still wide awake, thanks to a mysterious buzzing near the bed. "I shut the AC off, we called for earplugs, maintenance came," Johnson says. "Finally they had to move us at, like, three in the morning. It was a whole thing."
[ed. For Calvin, who loves Moana (and Maui).]
On any other day, Johnson would be up before dawn, clanging and banging on the 45,000 pounds of equipment in the torture chamber of a home gym he calls his Iron Paradise. But not today. Today Johnson slept in until the downright slothful hour of 6 a.m., in a hotel suite in Beverly Hills under the alias Sam Cooke, where he now sits perusing the newspaper while his longtime girlfriend, Lauren Hashian, enjoys a bowl of room-service granola.
The reason for this uncharacteristic idleness? Johnson and Hashian have a two-year-old daughter, Jasmine, and a second child arriving in a few weeks. "We're in the home stretch," says Hashian, rubbing her belly – so they left the toddler with the nanny for the night and snuck off for a little romantic getaway. "We're getting it in now before it's too late." Johnson, padding around the suite in gym socks and a T-shirt that reads BLOOD SWEAT RESPECT, says he and Hashian were originally going to get married this spring in Hawaii. "But then we got pregnant," he says. "And Mama don't wanna take wedding pictures with a big belly – Mama wanna look good." They weren't exactly trying to have another baby. "We were talking about it," he says. "And then all of a sudden I get a text from her with a [picture of a] pregnancy test." Apparently it didn't take much. "All I did was look at her," Johnson jokes. "Guess what. You're pregnant. Baby in you now.""He just gave me the eyebrow," says Hashian. "Pew. Here's a baby."
Johnson says he's excited. "I had Simone when I was 29" – his older daughter, now 16, whom he had with his ex-wife, Dany Garcia, who's now his manager. (They make it work.) "Guys don't mature until much, much later, so it's nice to be in my fourth level and have babies again." Fourth level – that's a new one. Johnson, 45, grins. "It's better than saying the actual number."
Do they have a name picked out? "I think we do," Hashian says. "We're thinking about Tia. It's simple, it's Polynesian-ish. And I feel like she might come out looking like a Tia. I mean, she could come out any which way, because we're complete opposites" – she's fair and delicate, he's brown and colossal. I love that name, I tell her.
"Yeah?" says Johnson, sounding pleased. "Thank you. You're probably the fourth person who's heard it. It was funny – we were having dinner with Emily Blunt, who I'm getting ready to work with [on Disney's Jungle Cruise], and I said, 'What do you think of Tia?' And she went – beat, beat, beat – 'No one's gonna fuck with a Tia Johnson.' "
Especially not when her father is Dwayne Johnson, roughly the size of a grain elevator. When he was in high school, other kids were suspicious of him because they thought he was an undercover cop. (For the record, a pretty solid pitch for a Dwayne Johnson movie.) Even now, as the most beloved star in Hollywood not named Tom Hanks, Johnson and his giganticness can still give pause. Director Brad Peyton, who's worked with him on three films – including the new monster romp Rampage – says the first time they met, Johnson was dressed as Hobbs, from the Fast & Furious franchise. "I was like, 'Oh, my God – this guy is frighteningly large,' " Peyton says. "I was shitting myself he looked so intimidating. It took me, like, 15 minutes to get over it."
As if to combat this, Johnson carries himself with an abiding gentleness, like a grizzly bear who rolls over so you can rub its belly. On our way to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, we pass a manager who apologizes to him for last night. "Oh, it's all good!" Johnson says. Only after we're out of earshot does he reluctantly relate what happened. It turns out when he got back to the suite around 2 a.m., following a long day of work, Hashian was still wide awake, thanks to a mysterious buzzing near the bed. "I shut the AC off, we called for earplugs, maintenance came," Johnson says. "Finally they had to move us at, like, three in the morning. It was a whole thing."
What a bummer – and on their special night, too. "One night!" Johnson says. He throws his hands up, mock-exasperated. "The hits just keep on coming."
They do, actually. Johnson is riding a wave of success as the most bankable star in Hollywood – the closest that movies in 2018 have to a sure thing. A recent Wall Street Journal report revealed that his upfront payday for an upcoming film would be $22 million; a source close to Johnson says that figure is low by "two bills." But the most surprising part of the news may have been how unsurprising it was: Of course the Rock is worth $20 million-plus. After all, there's a reason last year's Jumanji sequel grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide, and all due respect, it's not Jack Black.
As producer Beau Flynn, who's made six of Johnson's films, says, even at that price, "Dwayne is a massive steal and a bargain."
"He's a freak of nature," says Johnson's Rampage co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan. "It seems like every month he's in a movie and making a killing. In the middle of shooting Rampage, he's off hosting SNL and doing ads for Apple and running for president and whatever else. He works out at 3:30 in the morning so he can get to set on time. I don't know how he does it. And the other thing is, he's a family dude, so not only is he juggling the 9 million things he's got on his plate for work, he's also raising kids and got a happy marriage. Jesus Christ. I kind of fucking hate him."
Spending time with Dwayne Johnson is pretty much as uplifting as you'd expect. He will give you a fist bump that makes your humerus vibrate. He will ask your spouse and/or child's name and then make a point to repeat it 17 times. His warmth and enthusiasm will be infectious, and you will leave with newfound inspiration to wake up earlier and exercise more and be kinder to people and also maybe join the Marines? That's just the kind of guy he is. (...)
Johnson has found a sweet spot with the characters he plays: highly skilled bad-asses who are also sensitive and vulnerable, flawed yet decent men with big biceps and bigger hearts. "No one's going to see me play a borderline psychopath suffering from depression," he says. "I have friends I admire, Oscar winners, who approach our craft with the idea of 'Sometimes it comes out a little darker, and nobody will see it, but it's for me.' Great. But I have other things I can do for me. I'm gonna take care of you, the audience. You pay your hard-earned money – I don't need to bring my dark shit to you. Maybe a little – but if it's in there, we're gonna overcome it, and we're gonna overcome it together."
They do, actually. Johnson is riding a wave of success as the most bankable star in Hollywood – the closest that movies in 2018 have to a sure thing. A recent Wall Street Journal report revealed that his upfront payday for an upcoming film would be $22 million; a source close to Johnson says that figure is low by "two bills." But the most surprising part of the news may have been how unsurprising it was: Of course the Rock is worth $20 million-plus. After all, there's a reason last year's Jumanji sequel grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide, and all due respect, it's not Jack Black.
As producer Beau Flynn, who's made six of Johnson's films, says, even at that price, "Dwayne is a massive steal and a bargain."
"He's a freak of nature," says Johnson's Rampage co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan. "It seems like every month he's in a movie and making a killing. In the middle of shooting Rampage, he's off hosting SNL and doing ads for Apple and running for president and whatever else. He works out at 3:30 in the morning so he can get to set on time. I don't know how he does it. And the other thing is, he's a family dude, so not only is he juggling the 9 million things he's got on his plate for work, he's also raising kids and got a happy marriage. Jesus Christ. I kind of fucking hate him."
Spending time with Dwayne Johnson is pretty much as uplifting as you'd expect. He will give you a fist bump that makes your humerus vibrate. He will ask your spouse and/or child's name and then make a point to repeat it 17 times. His warmth and enthusiasm will be infectious, and you will leave with newfound inspiration to wake up earlier and exercise more and be kinder to people and also maybe join the Marines? That's just the kind of guy he is. (...)
Johnson has found a sweet spot with the characters he plays: highly skilled bad-asses who are also sensitive and vulnerable, flawed yet decent men with big biceps and bigger hearts. "No one's going to see me play a borderline psychopath suffering from depression," he says. "I have friends I admire, Oscar winners, who approach our craft with the idea of 'Sometimes it comes out a little darker, and nobody will see it, but it's for me.' Great. But I have other things I can do for me. I'm gonna take care of you, the audience. You pay your hard-earned money – I don't need to bring my dark shit to you. Maybe a little – but if it's in there, we're gonna overcome it, and we're gonna overcome it together."
by Josh Eells, Rolling Stone | Read more:
Image: Mark Seliger[ed. For Calvin, who loves Moana (and Maui).]
