From Loincloth to Leotard: "The Rock"

There are individuals out there who deserve mention for everything they do, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson fits squarely into this category.  I say this not as a fan of Johnson’s type of wrestling (read: staged) or for his famous feuds with other so-called non-Greco-Roman wrestling athletes … no, I say this because he has been able to cross over into pop culture and remain, well, a nice guy.

In my book, what separates Johnson from his peers is the fact that he’s not afraid to tackle kid-friendly fare.  Admittedly, I didn’t complain when I saw him in The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King.  I like a loincloth as much as the next guy.  But here’s the thing – Johnson has branched out.  He doesn’t “only” make action or buddy movies.  Sure, they’re in his repertoire, and he’s good in both genres, but I think he’s made more of a positive impact on kids by accepting roles in definitely-a-juvenile-audience films.  That says a lot about a guy with machismo dripping off of him.

It also says something that he’s gone from a Me-Tarzan-you-Jane loincloth to leotards on at least two occasions (The Game Plan and Tooth Fairy).  Most male actors, no matter how confident, don’t do that.  And he didn’t stop there: his other kid-friendly films include Race to Witch Mountain, Planet 51, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and the soon-to-be-released Journey 3: From the Earth to the Moon.  The guy is versatile: he dresses up well, has written an autobiography, and has contributed his time and energy to both major American political parties in order to encourage younger people to vote.

Now, to be fair, this doesn’t mean I probably wouldn’t s*** myself if I happened to run into The Rock (technically a title he no longer uses, at least in film) in a dark alley.  I would probably do that and more, and would have to burn the underwear I was wearing.  He’s a big guy: six-foot-five and 260 pounds.  He’s been a football player and a “wrestler,” and he’s got the ethnicity thing down too: his mother is Samoan.  (Just for the record: swimmer Greg Louganis is half-Samoan as well, which probably explains why he tans so well and why all of his Olympic photography shows him with dark curly hair.  Turn on!)  Other additional factoids:

• Although born in California, Johnson can also claim Canadian citizenship because of a law affecting children born on Canadian parents that was implemented retroactively.
• Because his mother is of Samoan royal blood, he was bestowed a title by King Malietoa Tanumafili II when he visited Samoa in 2004.  He's also a supporter of the Samoan national rugby team, and has a partial Samoan pe'a tattoo.  (Traditionally, the pe'a covers a man's body from the solar plexus to the knees, but Johnson hasn't gone that far ... yet.)
• He's founded The Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation as a charity to work with at-risk and terminally ill children.
• He and his ex-wife, Dany Garcia, still live together as "best friends" and jointly donated $1,000,000.00 (the largest donation ever recorded by former students) to the University of Miami to support renovations to its football field.
• He holds the record for the highest salary ever paid to a movie star in a debut film: $5,500.000.00 for playing The Scorpion King in the opening sequence of The Mummy Returns.  His likeness for the character was used in CGI for the battle at the end of the film.
• He guest-starred in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager as (what else?) an alien wrestler.

Next up?  A stint as Hercules and the decision to be part of The Fast and the Furious 7.

I’m sorry I can’t bring you a clear shot of Johnson in his skivvies or in something that will show off his muscular curves.  If they’re on the Internet, I can’t find them, so you’ll have to settle for the closest-thing I could find to a full-body shot and just fill in the rest with your imagination.  It shouldn’t be that difficult and should actually be a bit fun, don’t you think, to sculpt The Rock into something you like?