By Julian Shaw
Talk me through your day, Dwayne… “I’m able to work six to eight hours a day, but I have the mornings to myself. That allows me to train and then get my rest. Then I can prepare for the day. Then at night, my team and I are able to go to great restaurants and relax a little bit before we gear up to do it all again the next day.”
Is keeping your training going and having that “alone time” your number one priority when you wake up? Even if you’re in Hong Kong [doing press], like you are today? “Training is my anchor for the day. It’s my sanctuary. In an odd way, I’m able to do a lot of my introspection and thinking at that point before the circus starts all over again.”
Your persona seems so serene, and it seems that you’ve navigated this Hollywood world effortlessly. Does it get trying? “I’ve learned the importance of finding balance: work, family, friends, and loved ones. You realise that over time. When I first broke into movies eight or nine years ago, I didn’t understand the great value of finding balance. I was doing as much as I could all the time, flying by the proverbial seat of my pants non-stop. That came from that world of professional wrestling, where we’d produce four hours of live television every week of the year. That was the schedule, and there was a lot of guerrilla-style shooting involved. But over time, I learnt the value of finding balance. I also realised that I didn’t have to be the smartest or brightest or most brilliant guy in the room. I didn’t have to be the best guy in the room. I just had to be me. In that process, I was able to surround myself with the brightest and the most brilliant people in their respective fields, from agents to attorneys to publicists to creative partners to directors. That just inherently made me better and helped me find that balance.”
I see professional wrestling as the place where you practised how to tell a story. I truly believe that was your acting school… “It really was. I came into acting in a very unconventional way, as you know. I didn’t have the luxury of going to film school. I didn’t go to Julliard. My parents weren’t film executives. So my training and my theatre was the live physical theatre that is professional wrestling. That high-energy world translates well to Race To Witch Mountain. We wanted to make a movie that felt like a ride with non-stop action. It was the right opportunity to get back into the action genre and kick some butt.”
You’ve also done work as unusual as Southland Tales… “I’m still not quite too sure what that movie is about. I love [writer/director] Richard Kelly; he’s one of my dear friends. He’s a brilliant director who will eventually turn the corner and make incredible movies that will stand the test of time.”
What kind of challenge would you love to tackle next? “I’d love to make a classic movie in the vein of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, or even Unforgiven. A movie about a man who’s on a mission and won’t stop until the mission is accomplished. It sounds simplistic, but a lot of times the characters in those movies are uncomplicated but very powerful. I’d love to find something like that…and I’d love to find a musical where I can sing and dance. [Laughs].”
Central Intelligence is released in cinemas on June 30. This article was first published in 2009.
