1. Ryan Prazer Y38835
Presentation Script on Dwayne Johnson
Slide 1- My slideshow presentation is a star study of Dwayne „The Rock‟
Johnson and asking what he brings to his films that is different- from both
other actors and WWE superstars.
Slide 2-In section 1 of the slideshow I‟ll be showing a quick biography of
Dwayne Johnson and explaining a lot about his background. Section 2 will be
looking at a comparative study against another professional wrestler-turned
actor- John Cena. Section 3 is a detailed look at the work of Johnson and how
his acting work stands out. The final section includes a critique of Dwayne
Johnson, the success of Johnson and a catalogue of sources used in this
presentation.
Slide 3-From Wikipedia and from Johnson‟s autobiography, I have collected
this information: Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born in Hayward, California
on May 2nd 1972. Johnson‟s father-Rocky Johnson was a professional
wrestler, as was his grandfather Peter Maivia.
He received a full scholarship from the University of Miami to play American
Football for Miami Hurricanes; he suffered an injury which cost him a place in
the NFL. He left after a year in the Canadian League to pursue a career in
wrestling.
He trained for a while under the tutelage of his father and wrestling veteran
Pat Patterson.
He made his wrestling debut in 1995 under the name Flex Kavana (He
thought this name was cool)In 1996, Johnson joined the WWE (then the
WWF) and became Rocky Maivia- a tribute from company owners to his
family history- even though at first, Johnson was reluctant to survive on his
father and grandfather‟s big reputations.
During the „attitude era‟ of the WWF, he joined a group called the Nation of
Domination (a group of stereotypically angry black wrestlers on a rampage).
Then a revolutionary storyline involved him breaking out from the group and
becoming „The Rock‟ as the first Black face (good) wrestler.
As you can see, he has a daughter named Simone Alexandra. His ex-wife
and mother of Simone, Dany Garcia still remains his life-long friend to this
day.
Johnson now considers himself a professional actor as opposed to a sports
entertainer,although his love for wrestling keeps him coming back to the WWE
for many special appearances- including a recent comeback involving the
current „poster child of the WWE‟- John Cena.
Slide 4- Let‟s compare him now to John Cena- who also has launched his
acting career in the past decade or so.If you don‟t count cameos, The Rock
was in the WWE for 8 years before „retiring‟. Cena has been in the WWE for 9
years and counting, so it makes sense that the honours of Cena‟s wrestling
far outweigh those of The Rock‟s. However as we look down the table we see
that Johnson‟s film accomplishments are astounding. 15 main roles in films
since 2000 is something to be proud of and if we just look at the bottom
figures of the two most successful films to date of the pair, we see that Fast 5
has more than quadrupled it starting budget of $125m, whereas The

2. Ryan Prazer Y38835
Marinehas barely surpassed its $20m budget. (Of course this information was
taken from Wikipedia and IMDB on the 21st September 2011 and may not be
completely accurate now.)
Slide 5-What is it that actually distinguishes Dwayne Johnson?
Slide 6- It could be said that his American Football background is a large part
of what distinguishes Johnson as an actor. He has three films to date in which
football plays a big part in his character. In Gridiron Gang- he plays a football
coach trying to rehabilitate juvenile prisoners through the medium of football.
In The Game Plan, he plays Joe Kingman- a pro athlete (footballer) who is a
superstar (much like Johnson in real life) and in Walking Tall we are
introduced to the „bad guy‟ through a rough game of football that sets up a
rivalry for the whole film. It can be said that football plays a big part in
Johnson‟s acting career, but it goes further than just his screen work.
[Walking Tall clip mentioned playing in background- 11 mins]
Slide 7- Football doesn‟t just define Johnson because he includes it in his
films, from his days as a Miami Hurricane; he has used the college team
motto as his own motto.
“HIT! STICK! AND BUST DICK!... „what else?‟ TALK SHIT! „what
else?‟ TALK SHIT! „what else?‟ TALK SHIT!!!!!” Rock, The. The
Rock Says... (HarperCollins, 2000)
This quote from his autobiography is-admittedly immoral in the way that it is
not acceptable to just slander someone but this quote is one that is
specifically significant in the building of his character The Rock, as most of his
popularity is due to his ability to „Talk Shit‟. The reason for this being that it in
today‟s society it is entertaining to see somebody put down, however immoral
that may be. In this clip, we see how- on his return to the WWE- he still has
this defining ability to improvise… or „Talk shit‟.
Clip of Johnson talking shit 10:37, 14:21
He had many phrases as part of creating the character of The Rock and these
are just a couple of examples of „promos‟ (segments in which a wrestler talks
to the crowd or to another wrestler as part of a storyline) that have stuck over
the years.
Slide 8- We see Johnson performing here in the ring which was his workplace
for 8 years. This fact along with the fact that wrestling was in his family for
several generations could explain the many gripping fight scenes in his films
that feature some of The Rock‟s „electrifying‟ moves. We can analyse a clip
here to see the different elements of the WWE world present.
Clip from Walking Tall37 mins - WWE Elements- Irish whip (swing to ropes),
Jumping from top rope, also elements of other wrestlers- Stone
Coldspinebuster, Traditional Rock nip upis also used in most if not all films of
his that have fight scenes in them.
Slide 9- Johnson‟s success in the WWE led to much popularity worldwide. We
can see his social networking popularity here, (his Twitter followers actually

3. Ryan Prazer Y38835
exceed the number of John Cena followers) with over 51 nations having „The
Rock‟ fan bases. This is probably the biggest reason for his success.
We‟ve worked out what distinguishes Johnson as an actor, but is he a good
actor?
Slide 10- The question we need to ask is „what is good acting?‟ According to
these sources from acting theorists, good acting is owed “notto how well they
act but to the sort of person they appear to be.” And apparently “film stars
usually must appear to be themselves” because their task is to “mechanically
reproduce the illusion of the natural”.
From these sources we can infer that the general consensus points to
naturalistic and comfortable performance being classed as good screen
acting. In theatre, an audience must be able relate or there is no connection, a
lack of connection to an audience equals a lack of success. For screen acting,
it is no different except that there is more intimacy with an actor with the help
of close-ups, voiceovers and other tools that film has. The more realistic and
natural a person looks whilst acting, the higher the chance of sustaining the
illusion of reality that an audience look for in a cinema experience.
Slide 11- I will now show you a clip where Johnson doesn‟t just play a large,
athletic man being violent and physical. In the film Southland Tales, Johnson
plays a film actor who appears to suffer from some sort of split personality
syndrome as well as anxiety. These features are far different from the vibrant
and extravagant characters of The Rock and Joe Kingman. I believe, he pulls
it off.
Southland Tales clips- Scene 5-22-25 mins & Scene 10 46-48 mins.
Slide 12- I believe he pulls off his career as an actor very well, and his recent
performance in Fast Five has seen him earn quite a lot of money but when
reviewed by Sight & Sound magazine, he often does not receive good
reviews. Two of these critics focus on his “bullish physique and cookie-
monster stare”instead of his ability to portray a character. The other two critics
compliment him well, saying his performance stood out from the rest in Fast
Five and that his wrestling experience puts him in the league of other action
stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
Dwayne Johnson does create controversy in terms of skill as an actor but his
success in terms of popularity and money is undeniable.
Words: 1,447