Dwayne Johnson Covers GQ’s 29th Annual ‘Men of the Year’ Issue

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In a new video cover story with an accompanying cover profile published today for GQ’s 29th annual Men of the Year issue, GQ’s senior staff writer Zach Baron joined Dwayne Johnson at his property in Virginia for an in-depth conversation about his childhood, his relationship with his parents, being an entertainer, and how he is looking for roles in his career now that can help him “disappear”…

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On his relationship with his late father… “It was tough love with him…Very little patience with shit. Raised me with a tough hand and physical. Didn’t beat my ass or anything like that, but just our bonding was—at a very young age—you could come to the gym with me at five and six years old, but you just gotta sit.”

On how he thinks his father, also a pro-wrestler, felt about Johnson’s success… “I don’t think he liked it. No. But that’s okay. [H]e was proud. But he also wrestled with a lot of my success, and I know that as his son.”

On the types of projects he chose when he started acting… “[W]hen I got into the business of Hollywood and moviemaking, it’s like, Okay, well, what kind of movies do I want to make? I want to make movies that hopefully are good, that don’t suck. But also reach as many people as possible.”

On choosing a film, The Smashing Machine, that his outside of his usual roles… “It was also an opportunity for me, I realized, to stretch myself in ways that I hadn’t been stretched yet…And also challenge myself in ways that I hadn’t been challenged.”

On wanting to explore different types of films and roles at this point in his career... “[T]here’s also a place for me, in my career, where the material is deeper, it allows me to sink my teeth into something deeper, richer.”

On loving feeling like he can “disappear”… “[F]rom the moment I walk out of my house, I can’t hide. But in a way, when I could disappear in a movie like Smashing Machine, and some of the other things now that we’re developing, where it will allow me to disappear, with a Benny again or an A24—”

On his mother… “The kindest soul, even through bad weather and damage and all the stuff that she went through. Always kind.”

On the rumor that he pees in bottles on set... “Yeah. That happens.

The December/January Men of the Year issue, on newsstands November 26.

[Photo Credit: Eli Russell Linnetz/GQ Magazine]

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