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SUBJECT: Race to Witch Mountain

Dwayne Johnson

After his lucrative career as a wrestler using the moniker ‘The Rock,’ following his grandfather and father into the ring, Dwayne Johnson is now a successful movie star, displaying his unique blend of action and comedic timing to such profitable films as The Game Plan and Get Smart.
In Disney’s new family film Race to Witch Mountain, the actor plays Jack Bruno, a down-and-out Las Vegas cab driver whose life is thrown into chaos by two alien teenagers, who need his help to return home.

Were you familiar with the original 1975 movie, Escape to Witch Mountain?:
Sure, I was a fan of it when I was younger, and Andy [Fickman, director] came to me with the idea about doing a re-imagining, as I like to describe it, of the movie. I loved the idea of working with him again, and Andy’s take was to make it the biggest adventure you possibly could, and inject humor where you possible could that wouldn’t stifle the story from progressing. A lot of times you’ll see that comedy is put in just for comedy sake, in this case it was how can we still propel the story but yet make people laugh along the way. And the script came in, I really enjoyed it, and we were off to the races.

What is it about original that you felt made it right for a re-imagining?:
I thought that they made the best movie in the Seventies that they could have made back then, and they created a classic in terms of the story. It’s a little tricky, especially when you’re dealing with movies that are classics, and you try [to do a] remake. In Disney’s case, because they are so very brands specific, it’s a little tricky and you want to be careful. I, along with Disney, just loved Andy’s take on the movie. He took a great idea and made it bigger. How could we make it not only bigger, but how could we serve it up to the audience today that would leave them thoroughly entertained, especially in today’s climate where you have so many movies out there that are strong in special effects and visual effects.

At one time you and Andy were saying that you were going for a PG-13 but you knew it could go PG, when you were shooting it did it affect the decisions you made?
That’s a good question, no. Andy wanted to infuse a lot of action with the comedy, and certainly with the fantasy element. He didn’t shoot it in a way that it was ever restraining for us, he shot it with all the action, with all the special effects, as if it were going to be a strong PG-13, and if we had to dial it back in editing then he did, and it just so happens that we made the best version of a movie in a PG setting that we could. And we pushed the envelope in it quite a bit.

How much did the car stunt work did you get to do?:
I actually did all the stunt work which was great for me, it was a lot of fun. It reminded me of just how fun and cool movies are. I had never shot action sequences like that, car chase sequences, so it was a lot of fun. We had Scott Rogers who was the action co-ordinator for the Bourne movies who came on board and put together these really great action sequences, car chase sequences, and much to Andy Fickman’s chagrin I was able to do all the car stuff without him knowing, because second unit shot it, so that’s how he didn’t know that I was in the car.

Would he have said no?
He would have said no, but I would not have listened, much like I normally don’t when he gives me direction.

You’ve done a lot of green screen before.:
Not particularly a lot, the very first time I was exposed to it was on The Mummy Returns, which was my first role, at the end of the movie. There’s a good amount of green screen or blue screen and it’s always a lot of fun, it’s a fun challenge to act against the blue screen, depending upon what the scenario is, whether it’s a car chase sequence or you being chased by an alien, or you have to fight an alien. But I think it’s always pretty fun and unique, and it reminds me again just how fun and cool movies are. When you think about a movie like 300, where it was all essentially blue screen, what a great challenge it was for those guys.

Do you have any good taxi cab experiences?
My experiences in taxis have been very interesting, and they go back to when I was in college where there was usually a good amount of alcohol involved and things taking place in the back of the cab that are pretty unmentionable at this point.

Your character doesn’t believe in aliens – do you ?
Sure, I do. I think that we would be as a society incredibly arrogant I believe to think that we’re the only life out there in our existence, in our galaxy. I haven’t actually seen a UFO, I thought I did, but then I realized again it was the alcohol that I had consumed [he laughs] There’s incredible footage out there [of UFOs] that’s hard to dismiss, and I’m grateful to Andy because Andy was born in Roswell, New Mexico, he’s very passionate about UFO’s and alien life and his whole office is decorated with alien life, and he’s very passionate about that and he’s a big believer. He supplied all of us actors with hours of footage that we were able to view, and the archival footage was really spectacular, and if you’re a non-believer it’s hard not to question your beliefs.

The movie ends with sequel written all over it – are you open to that?
Absolutely, and I think success breeds that type of opportunity, and if the audiences respond the way we hope that they do, then I’m sure we’ll be talking about a sequel. It’s always fun, especially if you’re passionate about the material that you’re shooting, to think about what the possibilities may be and where the sorry can take these characters, and how much more fun we can have once all these characters are established, and what new characters can we introduce, so that’s a fun process on the set until someone inevitably will go, ‘Hold on guys, we haven’t even shot this movie yet.’ We’ll see what happens.

Written by Judy Sloane. Back to top

Visit the official Race to Witch Mountain site
Images above © Walt Disney Pictures
Feature © 2009 Visual Imagination.
Not for reproduction.

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