Rock says "Just Bring It" to New Movie Deals


wwf.com

by Phil Speer

With "Saturday Night Live" and "The Mummy 2" already on his resume, The Rock has signed on for another movie, this time in the lead role. "It's gonna be incredible," The Rock said. "It's gonna be a very big budget, sci-fi action movie starring The Rock. We look to hopefully start production on that in December or January."

Vince McMahon will be executive producer of the film, for which the World Wrestling Federation will reportedly retain all licensing and merchandising rights. Joe Roth, who The Rock describes as the "Steven Spielberg of producers," is heading up the project. Roth had worked for several years under Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

The folks who write the "The X Files" are currently working on the script for the as-yet-untitled film. No word yet on where the movie will be shot.

Asked about the character he will play, The Rock said, "think 'The Matrix,' only The Rock instead of Keanu Reeves."
The Rock said, however, the Federation is still and always will be his passion "first and foremost." He views his Hollywood success as a good way to supplement his sports-entertainment career, not substitute for it.

I can tell everybody in Hollywood the same thing: there's nothing like performing in front of a WWF crowd," The Rock said. "There's no greater feeling than a live audience. And there's no exception to that, and they know that. So they know it takes a lot to get The Rock away from the WWF." His filming duties for this new project won't keep him off RAW and SmackDown! for long, and maybe not at all.

"They are more than willing to shoot from Wednesdays to Saturdays," The Rock said. "So I'll have one day off a week, if that, maybe. But I'll be there for RAW, I'll be there for SmackDown!, I'll be there for the Pay-Per-Views -- I certainly wouldn't miss any of those. Special house shows, I'll be there.

"It's just like with 'The Mummy 2.' Everybody thought I was gonna take two months off to film 'The Mummy 2.' And considering what I did, I should have taken like a month of two off. That's how long it would have taken. But I was like, 'no, we'll do it, and we'll do it in two days.' That's why I had get up at 2 a.m. all week and shoot until 7 o'clock at night. I don't foresee being out a long time (to shoot this new movie), if at all." I can tell everybody in Hollywood the same thing: there's nothing like performing

This new movie deal is just one of the many projects forthcoming involving The Rock. In fact, just today, the Wyclef Jean video "It Doesn't Matter" debuted today on MTV's "TRL." Wyclef appeared at Tuesday night's SmackDown! tapings.

"He told me yesterday that the music industry is buzzing. It's supposed to be the tune of the summer," The Rock said. "The good thing about him is, not only does he reach our demographic and he's appealing, (but also) he's like Will Smith. He doesn't curse."

"The Mummy 2," featuring The Rock as Scorpion King, hasn't even hit theaters yet, but there's already been rumors about a "pre-quel" - rumors that The Rock confirmed. "It's just a matter of dotting the I's and crossing the T's and details like that," he said.

The Rock's No. 1 best-selling autobiography, "The Rock Says," will soon be updated and released in paperback. "There's gonna be about three to four more chapters (that will) pick up where it left off," he said. "And it actually left off last June at King of the Ring so we have a year and then some of all the stories. And obviously the character has ascended so much since then. And I've grown too as a person - professionally and personally."