‘Rampage’ stars Dwayne Johnson and Naomie Harris open up

Los Angeles — After a second week of box-office success of their Brad Peyton-helmed sci-fi monster film, “Rampage,” Dwayne Johnson and Naomie Harris sat with Hollywood Insider to talk about their movie among other things.

Dwayne, 45, revealed that he was expecting a second daughter with girlfriend Lauren Hashian. Their first child is Jasmine Johnson who will be turning three years old this December 16.

Dwayne’s oldest daughter, Simone, 16, was chosen as this year’s Golden Globe Ambassador.

The 6’5” tall and 260 pound former professional wrestler talked about how fatherhood has changed him, the animal that has recently intimidated him and how he has managed his successful career.

On the other hand, the 41-year-old British actress, Naomie Harris, shared her thoughts on growing up with a single parent, how her mom has influenced her, how India has changed her, her idea of a perfect guy and the books she reads these days.

“Rampage,” which is loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games, follows primatologist Davis Okoye (Johnson), who must team up with the albino gorilla, George, in order to stop other monsters. Okoye is aided by Dr. Kate Caldwell (Harris), a discredited genetic engineer.

Below are excerpts of our separate conversations with them:

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson. Photo courtesy of Janet Susan. R. Nepales/HFPA

On whether he was intimidated by any animal:

The one animal I interacted with was about a ten foot alligator.  I also live down in Florida, I have been down there for many years, and I live just a few miles from the Everglades and there’s alligator farms there. So I went to do research there for the movie just to go down there, I get a little crazy in a way, and I live down in the country. We were able to pull this ten foot alligator out of the water, about ten of us. I was finally able to get on the alligator and hold its mouth. 

I posted the picture the other day on Instagram. It’s a fun picture.  It’s funny. People think I am crazy.  So that was a little bit intimidating, because obviously they are incredibly strong and one bite, they will immediately turn their bodies and that is how they kill their prey.  But yeah, that moment was pretty intimidating.

On managing his successful career:

Thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it. I am really proud of the career that I have been able to navigate throughout Hollywood and break the mold of a few things and trail blaze in a few paths. There wasn’t a blueprint for me that I could follow when I first came in, because there wasn’t the half-Samoan/half black wrestler who could raise an eyebrow and be loud and bombastic on some crazy wrestling show. There wasn’t that for me.

But there were individuals like Will Smith at that time, when I first broke in 18 years ago, George Clooney, guys like that, who I wanted that kind of career. So I am proud of the career and these days, more so proud of the people whom I have been able to galvanize around me to see the vision and really put in a lot of work. I switched agencies about eight years ago. We opened up the production company, started building that out and just continued to bring in more minds and more people. So I am quite proud of that.

On how fatherhood has changed him:

Just becoming a father over the years, has made me still believe in hard work and being grateful.  I believe in being kind to people and nice to people.

On George Burns’ secret to success:

There’s this great quote by George Burns, who then told this to Lionel Richie. So when Lionel Richie and I met, I said, hey, can you tell me a little bit about what George told you. It was very simplified but very powerful.  He said, just continue to work as hard as you can, be as grateful as you can, for everything that comes your way, ups and downs, and always do your best to stay booked.

Dwayne Johnson and Naomie Harris at the premiere of Rampage. Photo: IMDB

Naomie Harris

Naomie Harris. Photo courtesy of Janet Susan R. Nepales/HFPA

On what attracted her to do the film:

So what attracted me to the movie was really the script. It’s not often that in these kinds of monster action adventure movies that the female roles are so well developed and so well rounded. The females actually get the opportunity to propel the story forwards. Usually, you’re an appendage to the man’s journey and he leads the way and you follow.

But Dwayne’s character needs Kate just as much as she needs him and they both work as a team. So I was really attracted to that. I read it and I was moved by it as well. I was emotionally moved which is very rare in these kind of movies as well because sometimes the action adventure takes over and it’s all about that. But actually, there’s heart and soul in this movie. There’s a real love and connection between Davis and George the gorilla. I find that relationship moving. I was tearful at the end.

On her last trip to India

I got back less than a week ago from India. I took three weeks off and I went to this ayurvedic retreat. I had an amazing time and worked with one of India’s best ayurvedic doctors who actually treats the Dalai Lama and Oprah Winfrey. It was an incredibly healing place. I highly recommend it. It’s called Vana in Dehradun, which is just outside Delhi. So I’m all about ayurvedic treatments now. So that’s my new thing.

I don’t know why I got interested in that. I wanted to just get away because you know this business is really stressful. It’s really important every now and then to just take a break to recoup and to reset yourself. That’s what keeps the passion alive for my work. You always have to have other influences as well. You can’t be just about staying in this business. You’ve got to feed yourself on life so you can represent that on screen.

I’m not Buddhist and I’ve never been. But interestingly enough, Vana was opened by a Buddhist and lots of Buddhist monks go and chant there.

On her mom:

It was just me and my mom when I was growing up. My mom was a single parent and she had me very young. She is amazing because she’s always said to me, anything is possible and anything you want to do you can do with hard work. It requires a lot of hard work but you can achieve whatever you want. She has always believed in me because there are so many moments in this profession when you start to doubt yourself and it’s a tough profession with a lot of knocks. So there are so many times when I’m giving up. I can’t cope anymore. I’ve had enough and my mom’s always that person who believes in you. You can do this, come on, and she helps me over all of those hurdles. She’s an amazing woman and I love her so much.

On being raised by a single parent

Growing up with my mom and her being a single parent, actually it felt really cool as a child because you have a mother who’s actually in some ways, my mom was a child. Being 18 years old is incredibly young so she was a lot more playful than older mothers were with their children. My mom was incredibly not restrictive at all. Nothing was off limits. She was always like, explore, go and experiment, do whatever you want, that’s how you’ll learn in life. That actually made me self-parent myself in some ways because I was like, ok there are zero boundaries so I’m going to boundary myself up.

But it was great because we’ve always been incredibly close. My mom’s a writer so it was a world of imagination. So every bedtime my mom would create stories for me and we’d go on these adventures with these stories. She ended up writing those stories and making them into children’s books which she actually published. So it was a really creative household. She was always writing and I was always doing my thing whether it was drawing or I’d do my own writing.

I wrote a novel when I was 13. I’d do my acting as well. I started acting when I was nine. So it was really creative and fun.

On the perfect guy

My perfect guy would have to be able to handle a strong woman because I am one. But I’m very different from the characters that I play. I get an opportunity with my roles to exercise parts of myself that I don’t actually display in real life. I’m not very good with anger. I’ve never understood where anger has its place because it’s quite destructive. I’ve never wanted to place my anger on someone else so I do a lot of swallowing of anger. But then, lots of my parts there’s a lot of expression of anger. So that’s how I get my release, and that’s why I find acting so rewarding because it’s so cathartic for me.

But yeah, a guy would need to be very in touch with his emotions, a new age kind of man, spiritual, honest and have integrity and just a general all around good human being.

On the books that fascinate her

So when I was a child I was really obsessed with Jane Austin so I read a lot of Jane Austin novels. Jane Austin actually messed up my dating life because I was always looking for Mr. Darcy or some character like that and I’ve yet to find a man like that.

But today, the kind of books I like are really self-help books, self-development books. I’m always in search of answers hence why I go to places like an ayurvedic retreat in India. I’m always looking to find answers about how we ensure that there’s as much growth as possible in my life. I want to know how we can live the best possible life that we can, because life is not easy. It doesn’t come with a rulebook. So understanding how to navigate life is a constant challenge. — LA, GMA News