FILM-SAN ANDREAS/UK PREMIERE Dwayne Johnson walks London red carpet for "San Andreas" premiere

Record ID: 154269

  • Title: FILM-SAN ANDREAS/UK PREMIERE Dwayne Johnson walks London red carpet for "San Andreas" premiere
  • Date: 21st May 2015
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (MAY 21, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF LEICESTER SQUARE ODEON IMAGE SHOWING PROMOTIONAL IMAGE FOR "SAN ANDREAS" FANS AT PREMIERE FAN HOLDING POSTER OF ACTOR, DWAYNE JOHNSON, FORMERLY KNOWN AS "THE ROCK" IN WRESTLING VARIOUS OF JOHNSON POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS WITH ACTRESS, CARLA GUGINO, AND ACTRESS, ALEXANDRA DADDARIO JOHNSON WIPING MOUTH (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, DWAYNE JOHNSON, SAYING: "I wanted to do something that I've never done before and this gave me that opportunity because it's in the disaster genre, a genre I've never worked in, and I realised how hard it is, but I also realised when you're make it and it's good, you've got a shot at something that might stand the test of time, and I think we might have done it with San Andreas." DIRECTOR, BRAD PEYTON, TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, BRAD PEYTON, SAYING: "Dwayne and I spoke a lot about being a helicopter pilot, being a first responder, working at LAFD, we did all the research, we spoke to all the seismologists, but above everything else I just think he has a very personal connection to this guy, in a way that I've never seen. I think you see it on the screen, that there's something in his performance that's incredibly genuine, incredibly grounded, and I think everything has to do with Dwayne being able to pull something from very deep, from a very honest place." VARIOUS OF JOHNSON TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, DWAYNE JOHNSON, SAYING: "Within the first five minutes of the movie you realise this guy's going through divorce and he's struggling in his relationship with his little girl, his daughter, so there's a lot of elements that my life reflected - like I couldn't have made this movie ten years ago, it would have been a different movie. I had to live the life."
  • Embargoed: 5th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nepal
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7UFVY7TMVSOSEJ44PTJ87378B
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson entertained adoring fans on the red carpet in London on Thursday (May 21) at the premiere for his new disaster movie "San Andreas".
    Scores of fans flocked into Leicester Square in the British capital to get a glimpse of the wrestler-turned actor, who takes centre stage in a film that follows a series of landscape-altering earthquakes along the San Andreas fault line in California.
    "I wanted to do something that I've never done before and this gave me that opportunity because it's in the disaster genre, a genre I've never worked in, and I realised how hard it is, but I also realised when you make it and it's good, you've got a shot at something that might stand the test of time, and I think we might have done it with San Andreas."
    Johnson, 43, has become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, thanks in part to his recurring role in the "Fast and Furious" franchise. The most recent film, "Furious 7," has earned more than $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.
    He was also immortalised in cement in California on Tuesday (May 19), imprinting his hands and feet into the concrete outside the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
    Johnson's character story arc follows a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter pilot trying to rescue his wife, who is in the process of divorcing him, and his daughter, with whom he has an estranged relationship.
    The issues that trouble his character on screen have also closely reflected Johnson's personal life, something that both he and Peyton acknowledged help bring an earnestness to the film.
    "Dwayne and I spoke a lot about being a helicopter pilot, being a first responder, working at LAFD, we did all the research, we spoke to all the seismologists, but above everything else I just think he has a very personal connection to this guy, in a way that I've never seen," Peyton said.
    "I think you see it on the screen, that there's something in his performance that's incredibly genuine, incredibly grounded, and I think everything has to do with Dwayne being able to pull something from very deep, from a very honest place," he added - a sentiment echoed by Johnson.
    "Within the first five minutes of the movie you realise this guy's going through divorce and he's struggling in his relationship with his little girl, his daughter, so there's a lot of elements that my life reflected - like I couldn't have made this movie ten years ago, it would have been a different movie. I had to live the life," he told Reuters Television.
    Johnson's daughter on screen is played by Alexandra Daddario, a character who fights her way to refind her parents with an English love interest and his younger brother - though the pairing sees Daddario as the main resource in saving them all as things take a turn for a worse - a trait she said she was delighted to be able to personify.
    "It felt like a very honest character to me. I think she happened, because of who her father is, to know a lot about how to survive in that type of a situation and it felt very real to me, and I think it brought out a strength within myself as a human being in my own life," she said.
    "So I think it's wonderful that there are more and more women being portrayed in leadership positions," she added.
    Actress Carla Guginio, who plays the estranged wife of Johnson and mother of Daddario, acknowledged that despite the awe-inspiring technical aspects of the film and the action sequences screaming for attention, it was in fact the characters that brought it down to earth.
    "This film from, the start, was grounded in the emotions of these characters and was grounded in this fractured family coming together, and Brad Peyton our director, a lot of directors say it's about the acting in these films and then the technical aspects are so all consuming that the acting doesn't get a lot of attention, Brad said that from day one and then stood with it the entire film and it really makes a difference," she said - something Johnson agreed with.
    "Number one we wanted to get into a genre that we had never worked in - me myself, the director Brad Peyton, the producer, Beau Flynn, and we wanted to hopefully, hopefully raise the bar a little bit in the genre with our new technology, with our script, with our hunger," he told Reuters, while acknowledging shouts of love from the crowd nearby.
    "I also felt like it was also the opportunity to again make something global and epic and hopefully something that was rooted in characters and some nice family elements," he said.
    The movie's resonance and timing coincides with the one month anniversary of two earthquakes devastating Nepal.
    A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, killing thousands and demolishing more than half a million homes, most of them in rural areas cut off from emergency medical care. Nearly a month on, rescuers are still searching for dozens of people who remain missing in remote villages.
    A second major quake struck on May 12, 76 kilometres (47 miles) east of the capital Kathmandu, just as Nepalis were beginning to recover from the previous earthquake.
    Johnson said it was awful timing, but he hoped the film could draw attention to the need to help people that had suffered in the aftermath of such tragedy.
    "The first thing we wanted to do was try and raise awareness and we sent over a nice sizeable donation to the victims and the families, and also, like the families, you've got to rebuild, and for us, we wanted to make a movie that was entertaining but also informative," he said.
    "It's interesting - the thing that I found resonant with this film is this movie is about the triumph of the human spirit and is about how human beings are so resilient and they do come out in these times of need and really help each other," Gugino added.
    "Obviously my thoughts and prayers go out to Nepal and for anyone that goes through anything that's remotely like this, but at the end of the day I was focussing on telling a story about a family, I was focussing on entertaining, and listen, if some awareness for earthquakes comes out of this and helps preparedness, that's a great thing obviously," Peyton told Reuters.
    While at the premiere Johnson also attempted a Guinness World Record for the World's Biggest Blind Date, in which he took a selfie on a smartphone with more than 100 fans.
    The record had to be set within three minutes, with Johnson having to ensure that pictures with more than 75 of them - the previous record - were in-focus and rightly framed, as well as having them be taken by himself.
    San Andreas is released in the UK and U.S. on May 29.
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