Dwayne Johnson & Bestie Kevin Hart Share Fun Moments At Golden Globe 2025 Nominees Luncheon

I'm curious how you know, how you gauge when something that you've done has resonated publicly, accolade aside. You know, the truth is that that's hard to gauge. I think it's kind of hard to reconcile how you would know if something is going to engage an audience, if it's going to move them or not. I went to Venice Film Festival with our film, and that was the first time I'd watched it with an audience. And you never know. And I was nervous and we were nervous and, you know, we got, you'd never know until the very end. And we had that incredible 15 and a half minute ovation, which was really incredible. And that was the indication that, oh, I think we made something that is moving. I think people think they know what they can expect from you, right? They think they know Dwayne Johnson, right? They think they know what you bring. Is part of the fun for you, the surprise of showing them what else you can do? That is, it's part of the fun for me as an actor to showcase artistically sides that maybe people don't expect, which is always fun. But that's not the lead foot. And I think what is the lead foot for me is just showing myself what I can do and challenging myself. And that's what Smashing Machine really represents. It's just a great challenge that I chased and that I wanted, like hungry to challenge myself and not know how you're going to do and for it to be scary. And that's OK. And I like the film. I love the films that I've done in the past and I'll still, we're shooting Jumanji now, the big movies that are fun, that bring a lot of joy. But films like Smashing Machine, the other films like Developing with Scorsese, Developing with Darren Aronofsky, these are films that, these are the films that I'm hungry for and the challenge of it. That was great timing. I'm very fortunate that I have a really strong family and friend support system. So that really has kept me grounded. I've gotten to go home a bunch of times too, which has been incredible. And yeah, taking every day at a time, like one day at a time, not forcing myself to do too much, but also making sure that I'm taking in all the incredible things that I get to experience. So it's been chaotic, but it's been so beautiful and it's everything I've ever wanted. I have, but also not really at the same time. Like I've been, I've been acting since I was 10, went to school for musical theater. I did as much theater growing up as I could because I just fell in love with the art and the performance and creating a character and stepping into a world. But TV film, I've only been doing it for three years now. I'm pretty new, but also I'm new to the scene, but I've been acting since I was a kid. Hard to say. We certainly put our blood, sweat and tears into trying to make a show that, and Vince is so great on, all the writers are as well at not writing to a particular theme or a topic, even though a lot of people think it's commentary on one particular thing. And instead it's a show about human nature and living in the world that we live, looking at it from a different fractured angle through the sci-fi lens. So we wanted it to engender discussion, hope people would like it, hope people would get with it, you know, and go for the ride. But this reaction of it hitting something in the zeitgeist, for me, the things I keep hearing the most from people is in the industry, outside of the industry, fans, journalists, it's making them want to all watch the show when it drops and then they immediately want to talk to people about it. It's inspiring a lot of dialogue and conversation about some pretty big philosophical things. And so I'd like to think that maybe we were all kind of craving a conduit to have some bigger conversations about humanity that are more nuanced than binary. So maybe, maybe it's helping. And the best art is meeting you where you're at. So I'm not surprised that some people are saying, I think the whole thing is a portrait of grief and depression. That's part of what that person's experiencing. Or I think the whole thing is about a commentary about AI and that's an existential threat to a lot of people in the art. So it's also about us and them. It's about community versus the individual. It's also about how do you define happiness? How do you define success? A lot of stuff. We were unpacking a lot of stuff late nights with the crew, too. It's truly a privilege to be in the conversation with these incredible artists and to be nominated amongst the incredible artists that I got nominated alongside, including this one. I was just talking about you. I was just like, the incredible artists I got nominated. It's like you. We just worked on a movie together and it's just, we've just been like... I'll let you do your interview. Sorry. It feels like this. I love her. Wonderful Rae.