Hobbs & Shaw’s Dwayne Johnson Opens Up on Ultimate Goals and Ambition

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has an impressive story. It’s been told many times over and you’ve probably heard it, at least in bits and pieces. In short… Johnson’s family moved around in his early years due to financial struggles. He made a way for himself through football in college only to be cut when trying to make it to the next level. He found himself in the now famous “seven bucks” in his pocket scenario, with nowhere to go but back to his parents’ house. Flash forward: he is a global phenomenon. He built a career through his family’s footsteps in the WWE. He goes on to become a world-famous actor in multiple movies each year, along with an HBO series which he produces and stars in. Not to mention, Johnson has launched a clothing line through Under Armour (plus, headphones, too). He even partially owns a water company now.

So, when will The Rock slow down? I went ahead and asked him just that — and the answer might just be never, though in a lot more thoughtful and encouraging words.

“I think we share the same values or similar values,” Johnson said, acknowledging my career with ComicBook.com which was discussed outside of the interview seen in the video above. As if on cue, Johnson’s cousin Roman Reigns gives a roar in the vein of their Samoan Siva Tao ritual a few hundred feet away in a small Hawaiian forest near the Kauai island’s north shore, indicating Johnson isn’t doing it alone. “That’s my cousin over there. He’s going crazy.”

Johnson brought his cousin into Hollywood, offering him a role in his Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, during a time when Reigns (real name Joseph Anoa’i) was bouncing back from a battle with leukemia.

“I think we share the same values, but honestly, Brandon, I don’t think a time will ever come where you think, ‘I’ve done it and I’ve accomplished everything that I want to accomplish, and I’m going to ride off into the sunset,’” Johnson said. “I don’t foresee that happening with me, but also I think that’s just part of the ambition and the drive, is that if you’re lucky and you’re fortunate enough to have a little bit of success in this life, like I had been, like you have been to, we’ve talked about your story too as well as you continue to grow out your brand. I think what that does for people like you and I, and for a lot of people who are watching, I think what it does, it gives them that spark to continue. And success and ambition, I believe begets ambition and more success. And you just want to achieve more.”

So, with that endless drive to accomplish and be hard at work, where does the fulfillment come from?

“I think what’s going to happen for you too, and you’re probably already there now, is you’re going to reach a point where you want to start giving back, and making sure that you’re fostering a lot of people around you to succeed with you, and bring them up within your company and foster them and create a culture around you,” Johnson said.

Johnson might never slow down. He might keep making movies and pumping iron until he can’t anymore. As long as the People’s Champ is able to do so surrounded by family and friends who are bringing brought to the top with him, it seems the Great One will be content.

“[That culture is] one of ambition, one of success, one of gratitude and one of tequila,” Johnson concluded, and with that, we raised a couple of small glasses in celebration of hard work and growth, all to the taste of smooth tequila.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw hits theaters on August 2.