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The Rock Describes His Game Plan
By Fred Topel | Image property of Disney.
The Game Plan
Johnson Talks The Game Plan
"For me, personally, I love comedy and I love self-deprecating comedy," said The Rock. "Physical comedy is great, dark comedy is great, but self-deprecating comedy, for me, always takes the cake. It’s great, when you just have the ability to laugh at yourself. I think we all should. There are different moments. For me, putting on the ballet outfit to the bubble bath, and you name it, is funny. That appealed to me. And, selfishly, for me, being a proud daddy, I’ve got a little 6-year-old girl at home, who challenges me every day, just like Madison [Pettis] challenged me in the movie. I wanted to make a movie that she could come and see. Of course, the goal is to make a big family comedy, a big broad comedy, but for me, personally, selfishly, I had the opportunity to take her to go see a Disney movie and play a character like this. There were a lot of elements that fell in place that made it very, very comfortable for me to make that."
Before he meets his long lost daughter, Joe Kingman (Rock) is a diva athlete. The star of his football team, he has an apartment filled with pictures of himself. He doesn't pass to his teammates and he makes fun of other family men.
"I’m just naturally like that," he joked. "I’m just very naturally arrogant, basically. All the photos in the movie are from my house. As a matter of fact, I have them all up on my ceiling. When I wake up, I like to look at myself. Let me tell you something, that’s wonderful for the ego, every day, to come to the set and see a huge picture of yourself that covers the entire wall, it’s absurd, but you’ve got to love it."
Kingman's nickname is The King because of his Elvis obsession. That was all The Rock. "I love Elvis. The moment I sat down with [director] Andy [Fickman], I said, 'Andy, do you love Elvis?' He said, 'Absolutely!' And, we went for it. It was another fun way of adding a layer to the character that might be interesting. Again, self-deprecating comedy is great. I love the fact that he was singing to her, in a very sweet and tender moment, and she says, 'I think you sound like a wounded moose.' I love that type of comedy, and how the joke falls back on me. For an actor to sing in a movie, and play the guitar, it’s really not funny. You’re like, 'Oh, he can sing and play guitar.' But, the joke makes it funny, when it falls back on him."
The girl also gets Kingman into ballet class. He may have thrown bulky muscle men through the air, but ballet was a new one for this athlete. "It was very, very challenging. I, like a lot of my guy friends, kind of dismissed ballet, for years. We were there with the Boston Ballet, and I was blown away by the incredible amount of discipline that those little girls, and little boys, had, the hard work and dedication. There was this amazing respectful silence when we were done. We would rehearse every day for two weeks. We essentially had a ballet boot camp for a couple of hours a day and, at the end, six or seven o’clock, they had already gone through school, and then they stayed with me and Madison the whole time. There was this respectful silence that would permeate the air, and then, they would all come and individually thank us for our time. I love seeing that in our children today. I love seeing that type of discipline, honor and respect."
The Game Plan is out in theaters.
For the trailer, review and more movie info, go to The Game Plan Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of Disney.
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