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DWAYNE JOHNSON Talks 'BLACK ADAM' And Gives The Secret To Working with Your Ex | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Oct 15, 2022
As 'Black Adam' hits theaters Dwayne Johnson sat down with Sway and DB to talk about one of the most anticipated movies of the year.
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DWAYNE JOHNSON Talks 'BLACK ADAM' And Gives The Secret To Working with Your Ex | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/GphpBzBLExo
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0:00
D what up baby what's up sway what's up
0:03
DB how you doing good man good to see
0:07
you brother good to see you too man how
0:09
you been man I I cannot complain
0:12
um it's great to talk with you again and
0:15
um look amazing in the movie I'm gonna
0:17
let DB do this quick intro for our for
0:19
our listening audience those who can't
0:20
view it DB go for it all right well uh
0:23
it was around this time last year that
0:25
we were fortunate enough to get some
0:26
time with the biggest star in Hollywood
0:28
and physically as well too but he is
0:30
also the most followed actor on
0:32
Instagram at about 340 million I believe
0:35
as of this interview and one of the most
0:37
followed actors uh most followed
0:39
accounts uh in the world I mean he's an
0:41
incredible multi-talented person actor
0:44
athlete father businessman entrepreneur
0:47
you name it and it's a it's an honor uh
0:50
to have him back here with us today to
0:51
talk about this new film uh coming up in
0:53
the DC EU that I got to see last night
0:55
and I can't wait to talk to him about it
0:57
there's a few things that I might have
0:58
to ask him about off camera but uh you
1:00
should really go see it I want all 340
1:02
people on his Instagram to go get
1:04
tickets to go see Black Adam on October
1:06
21st please welcome back to Sway in the
1:08
Morning Dwayne The Rock Johnson
1:11
come on man that was good that was a
1:14
hell of an intro thank you DB I
1:16
appreciate that man thank you but look I
1:18
think we could talk about everything on
1:20
camera I think we're good to go man
1:21
we're good don't spoil anything you know
1:23
it's something about the ending so I
1:25
can't I don't want Warner Brothers
1:26
shutting me down don't worry I I know
1:29
how to navigate that one but still we'll
1:30
be good okay okay cause that that is an
1:34
interesting ending but we'll we'll we'll
1:36
come back to that all right I gotta ask
1:38
you first before we get into um Black
1:40
Adam uh last time we talked we were
1:43
talking about face off with with tech N9
1:45
yeah right yeah man and man that that
1:48
became a hit how many was how many views
1:51
you end up getting on that I mean it was
1:53
crazy man whatever I think it's still
1:54
going too I mean we got we got lucky you
1:57
know and and it was just really
1:59
phenomenal and I'll always I I want to
2:01
take a moment just to acknowledge
2:03
um Joey and King ISO and Tech man those
2:06
guys were just really amazing they let
2:08
me come into their world put me on that
2:10
album and Tech really helped me too man
2:12
just in terms of
2:14
because I can't write rhymes like that
2:16
but I can say what I feel in my heart
2:18
and he just with his flow and as I've
2:20
said I think we talked about this man
2:22
there is no that dude his flow his style
2:24
he can retire dudes they step up to him
2:28
man so I just really appreciate those
2:29
guys really letting me come on man and
2:32
have fun and doing what we did
2:34
so so the way you sound I guess the next
2:37
question was um have you been in the
2:38
studio since but uh you don't sound like
2:40
you've been in the studio
2:41
no not yet but hey you forcing mechanism
2:44
to me I'm happy to get in the studio
2:46
okay okay I was in the movie he was in
2:50
the movie studio he was busy he was busy
2:52
in the movie studio right look I would I
2:54
would love to collaborate man with those
2:56
dudes again or you know if something
2:58
comes up for sure for sure that's see
3:01
you and Kendrick doing a track well you
3:03
know we'll we'll talk about that later
3:05
but I think that would be great I have
3:07
we had Kenya Barris uh come to the show
3:10
you know the creative blackish grown-ish
3:12
girls trip
3:14
um we were having a really interesting
3:15
conversation and I'm looking and we were
3:17
talking about the nature the climate in
3:19
the business right now and he says
3:21
something really interesting he said
3:22
content is the new nft right and I was
3:25
researching seven bucks and just looking
3:27
at how many projects that you've done
3:30
through seven bucks now you and Danny
3:32
have done successfully and I kind of
3:35
wanted to know what is your take like
3:37
what have you observed now you know that
3:39
you have your own you have your own
3:40
company and you're you're the executive
3:42
producer now what does the climate look
3:43
like to you well for us I think the
3:46
climate looks like we've gotten to a
3:48
place now where we are credentialed in
3:50
the streets we've got some good success
3:52
behind us uh giving us some you know
3:54
good tailwind and it's also put us in a
3:57
position where we can
4:00
I don't want to say Force that's not the
4:02
right word because they're our partners
4:04
but we can help our partners along to
4:07
take risks it's okay to take risks
4:10
especially if you do the work you
4:12
prepare you feel like you have your ear
4:15
to the ground your finger on the pulse
4:17
of what you feel like people might like
4:19
what they might not like and take that
4:21
risk it's easy and I get it and you guys
4:23
know this too from a studio perspective
4:25
in the executives there and how they
4:27
operate a lot of times I look at
4:28
something and
4:30
they want to be careful they want to
4:32
protect their jobs and I understand that
4:34
so A lot of times it is yeah we'll make
4:37
the investment but we're going to make
4:38
the investment in the thing that we feel
4:40
like will be a for sure hit well
4:42
sometimes and I'm bringing back to Black
4:44
Adam now because it's been a 10-year
4:46
project is when we first approach a
4:48
studio about Black Adam it was hard it
4:51
was a hard
4:52
it was a it was a hard yes it was a
4:55
harder yes because they would want to go
4:57
after Batman and Superman and Batman
4:58
versus Superman in justice league and
5:00
then you know all these that everyone
5:02
was already familiar with because no one
5:04
knew who Black Adam was
5:09
right yes yes if you knew the comics and
5:11
the mythology you knew who Black Adam
5:13
was but in terms of the masses around
5:15
the globe they didn't know who Black
5:16
Adam was so uh we're in a good position
5:19
now where where we can help the studios
5:22
along
5:24
um take some of these risks and feel
5:26
good about them and roll the dice and
5:29
we're also been in a good position too
5:30
where
5:32
we on our end we do feel at seven bucks
5:36
that
5:38
we could do anything and everything as
5:42
long as it's good as long as it's
5:43
quality because really that's the thing
5:45
that we that's the thing that we really
5:48
sink our teeth into with the consumers
5:49
in the audience and the people is
5:52
um we're gonna deliver quality to you
5:55
regardless of what genre it is
5:56
regardless of what area it is in
6:00
um have you gotten to the point because
6:02
as I listen to you speak and I've been
6:04
looking at all the movies a lot of the
6:07
movies you star in you now produce you
6:09
know I could relate to that on a smaller
6:11
level Dwayne where I won't do projects
6:13
unless I can oversee it myself because I
6:16
want to ensure that it has a certain
6:17
level of quality that reminds me of if I
6:21
made a sports correlation Floyd
6:22
Mayweather who would promote his own
6:24
fights you know is that where you at
6:26
right where you are right now like most
6:28
of the projects you star in you want to
6:31
produce we do we want to produce them as
6:33
a company and have our finger our
6:36
fingerprint on it but also have our
6:38
ownership as much as we can on it and
6:40
ownership is such is really in the world
6:42
of any kind of business any industry
6:44
you're in uh we look to own our projects
6:47
now of course with the studio it's a
6:48
little different you'll have to split a
6:50
lot of things which is fine but in other
6:53
Industries
6:54
um that we're in we look to found the
6:56
companies be the founders of the
6:58
companies and then own it but in terms
7:00
of the in terms of Hollywood
7:03
we go back a long time yes and what I
7:06
learned very early in my career
7:09
and at that time my business partner
7:11
Danny we were married at that time
7:13
coming out of the University of Miami
7:15
learned very early to always listen to
7:18
the audience and always connect with the
7:20
audience and those were days even before
7:22
I got to WWE when I was wrestling in
7:24
flea markets and state fairs and things
7:27
like that uh just making 40 bucks a
7:30
match we were always listening to the
7:31
audience so what we do now so we still
7:34
take that philosophy of audience first
7:36
we will always listen to the audience
7:38
and let's make sure that our North Star
7:42
is always the audience and what they're
7:45
going to like so I have this philosophy
7:48
Sway and D that
7:52
regardless of regardless of what happens
7:55
whether in a movie or in a wrestling
7:58
match or other products we can create
8:01
and sell
8:02
My Philosophy is I always want to send
8:05
you home happy there you go and whatever
8:07
that means and yeah I always do that so
8:11
you always do that I'm gonna let DB jump
8:13
in real quick D I just love talking man
8:16
like you said we've known each other a
8:17
long time and I'm so amazed at what
8:20
you've been able to build over the years
8:21
and even on a personal level it's not
8:24
easy working with somebody that you was
8:26
one once with that's now your ex I've
8:30
had to experience it I've gone out with
8:32
some amazing people but when they become
8:34
your ex you typically decide that you're
8:36
going several all ties I love the fact
8:39
that that you and Danny can still build
8:41
amicably and create this platform
8:44
what Insight can you give a person like
8:47
me that wants to still work with an ex
8:49
but don't know how to go about doing it
8:51
and I love that question and I
8:53
appreciate you acknowledging that it now
8:56
where we're at today comes with a lot of
8:59
work you know a lot of digging in and I
9:04
mean that was years ago but we now while
9:06
marriage wasn't in our cards we did
9:08
realize that well wait a second we have
9:11
been building something here that's
9:12
pretty cool
9:14
um marriage may not be in our cards but
9:16
building business can be okay that took
9:20
time I will say my
9:23
um
9:24
advice and counsel here would be and it
9:28
sounds a lot easier said than done and
9:30
quite frankly it is but man when you can
9:33
skillfully communicate your feelings and
9:36
your intentions and you come to the
9:38
table with your partner as you guys are
9:39
either going through a separation or
9:41
divorce and I've been there yeah
9:44
um and and stuff can get ugly at times
9:45
when you're having these conversations
9:48
um because both sides just want to get
9:50
heard but if you can get through the
9:52
sludge and it requires great
9:54
communication then on the other side of
9:56
that is usually some greatness and it's
9:58
usually you find a nice common place
9:59
where you can work with your ex your
10:02
spouse your ex-spouse
10:04
um and and again get to a good place and
10:09
um stay focused on whatever the goals
10:10
are it for us it came down to
10:13
communication and that wasn't easy for
10:15
me because I years ago I would like a
10:18
lot of dudes we'd you know keep our
10:22
emotions
10:25
and then we explode you know yes it goes
10:29
from zero to a hundred uh a lot with us
10:31
but I would say that it was just
10:33
sometimes just communication and being
10:35
really clear in the intention and the
10:38
goals and making sure that me and my ex
10:40
you and your ex or anybody out there
10:42
watching and listening is making sure
10:45
that those goals are aligned and by the
10:47
way if they're not that's okay
10:50
it's okay we can say goodbye and wish
10:53
them the best of luck and we'll see you
10:54
down the road so I got really lucky man
10:57
uh with Danny and and you know she's
11:01
she's been incredible
11:03
salute to Danny I never tell her I said
11:05
salute brother you know what you'll meet
11:07
her one day I think you'll really like
11:08
it man for sure she's she's the Hustler
11:11
man
11:12
she's badass I wanted to ask about um
11:14
when I was watching the film last night
11:16
because you talked about the audience
11:17
being a big priority for you and as I'm
11:20
watching the film I think the thing that
11:22
I kept thinking about was
11:25
sort of a question that's posed to the
11:27
audience sort of indirectly and it's
11:29
sort of the difference between a hero
11:31
and a villain but also
11:34
choosing to be a hero or not and whether
11:37
you want to be or not to people Dwayne
11:39
you're a hero to your kids your other
11:42
family your friends people around the
11:44
world of all ages and walks of life
11:46
where you may not even get to meet and
11:48
so do you ever feel like when you have
11:50
that many people who look up to you that
11:53
there are other people who are just
11:54
waiting for you to say the wrong thing
11:56
make the wrong move so they can you know
11:58
pick apart your your character and say
12:01
look he's not a hero he's not a good guy
12:04
oh sure yeah you get that I think
12:06
everybody gets that you know there's a
12:08
lot of people out there who just you
12:09
know they're waiting for you to trip
12:11
they're waiting for any kind of mistake
12:12
quick to judge
12:15
um quick to cancel things like that so
12:17
yeah you get that and and I get that but
12:20
you know the whole thing it's great you
12:22
talk about the philosophy that you saw
12:23
in the movie
12:24
you know but also be in real life it's
12:27
non-negotiable
12:29
for me because
12:31
I remember what it was like when I
12:33
didn't have much and no one cared who I
12:36
was or asking for an autograph or a
12:38
picture or anything like that so
12:40
um you know these days uh things are
12:43
different so you asked me for an
12:44
autograph or a picture I mean really
12:46
it's the easiest part of my job to do
12:48
that so not a not a problem but by the
12:51
way to your point the ones who are just
12:52
waiting for you to fall or trip and just
12:54
so they can point their figure and say
12:56
ah see I told you
12:58
that's okay too no I think it was Jay-Z
13:02
who said you know something like like
13:03
you can't break what you didn't build or
13:05
you can't something like that right
13:07
there was some great quote he had there
13:08
man I remember that
13:11
um
13:13
you know hold up I I like you quoting
13:15
Jay we gotta we gotta give that some
13:17
acknowledgment yeah
13:21
that was a great quote right there was
13:23
something like that I'm probably
13:24
screwing it up but Jay-Z said something
13:26
like you can't
13:27
you can't break what you didn't build or
13:30
you can't kill it but it was something
13:31
like that and if you really think about
13:33
that as simplistic as that is it's so
13:35
true like wait a second like people can
13:37
point their fingers and they could hate
13:38
and they could say whatever they want to
13:39
say and they could talk trash Etc but
13:41
you didn't build it I built it so only I
13:43
can so I decide what happens to this
13:49
[Music]
13:52
340 million followers on Instagram I
13:55
know every follower is not dming you
13:57
something nice you know so the liver
14:00
respond to that sort of stuff
14:02
no you know what every once in a while I
14:06
I usually don't because at the end of
14:08
the day look I at the end of the day you
14:10
got the problem man if you're taking the
14:12
time to
14:13
type something negative about me no
14:16
problem but every once in a while
14:18
someone will say something that is a
14:20
little sharp and feels like it's beyond
14:24
just excuse my language but just talking
14:25
like it feels like it's a personal
14:27
thing and never that's when I'll okay
14:30
I'll just give a little message to send
14:32
it out there it's usually it's usually
14:35
something like you know you
14:38
you sound tough
14:39
I'm not hard to find you know one of
14:41
those things so oh that's what that's
14:43
what usually what your message is
14:49
I ain't mad at that man go ahead DB I'm
14:51
sorry go ahead for it no it's all good
14:53
um I was gonna say that uh as a musician
14:56
I think one of the Pinnacle points of
14:58
your career when you're starting out is
14:59
like that first time you get to hear
15:01
your song on the radio you know your
15:03
first big interview maybe your first
15:04
invite to an award ceremony whatever but
15:07
I was thinking about when I saw you
15:09
first appear on screen full costume and
15:12
it's just like Black Adam is here about
15:14
to kick everybody's ass sort of moment
15:16
what did it feel like for you to
15:17
actually put it on for the first time
15:19
before you started filming but just to
15:20
have it fully on like to be Black Adam
15:23
like what went through your mind it was
15:25
incredible this is
15:27
this is honestly
15:29
this is the one for me Black Adam is the
15:32
one for me DB so this is the one for me
15:34
this is it this everything that I've
15:36
done in my career including wrestling I
15:39
believe deep
15:40
that it's all led to this one and it's
15:44
to me it's make or break to me my back's
15:47
up against the wall to me like so this
15:49
is the one so the first time I put on
15:51
the costume it's emotional man you put
15:53
that costume on and you're looking at it
15:56
in the mirror and you just have a quiet
15:57
moment you know and just like man I'm
16:00
really grateful I tell you my co-star
16:03
Aldous Hodge who plays I love all this
16:06
all this is a good dude man good good
16:08
dude he said something really beautiful
16:11
the other day because everyone wants to
16:13
know hey what's it like to put on
16:14
superhero costumes right and we we
16:16
talked about it and he said I wasn't
16:18
even putting on a costume I was putting
16:20
on a dream and this is a dream for me
16:22
and I really moved me man and I and I so
16:25
I want to I want to share that sentiment
16:28
too as well you put it on and it's a
16:30
Dream It's a dream because you get lucky
16:31
I think if you're in our world
16:34
and I same thing in music I believe like
16:37
you get your music on the radio
16:39
you worked hard but you got to get a
16:42
little bit of luck you work hard in
16:44
Hollywood you get a little bit of luck
16:45
if you if you if you're lucky enough to
16:47
play a superhero so
16:50
it was amazing putting that costume on
16:52
man
16:53
by the way they first made it was in
16:56
they put the muscle padding in for me
16:59
they do with all the other costumes and
17:02
I put it on the first time I wasn't your
17:03
body go wait wait a second hold on don't
17:06
start rumors hold on
17:08
so
17:10
I put it on and it had muscle padding in
17:14
it and I looked ridiculous and it looks
17:17
so it looked like I belonged on like a
17:19
Saturday Night Live skit and I told him
17:22
I said I think we gotta take these
17:23
muscle pads out because I'm really
17:25
working my ass off for this role so we
17:27
they did take it out they remade the
17:28
costume so it just laid on my body and
17:30
it was just like just really thin like a
17:33
Lycra or something like that so
17:39
way too many muscles all right hey
17:42
Dwayne Johnson man uh I appreciate you
17:44
thank you congratulations on Black Adam
17:46
we want everybody to go and check it
17:49
um I saw the movie at home I got a link
17:51
and I was gonna ask you a question but I
17:53
know we have to go but man it was
17:56
something like go ahead ask you okay so
17:59
it was the question right we could we
18:02
control the time you control that's why
18:04
we this is who we are now right you're
18:06
all the time
18:07
yes man so teth Adam wasn't born was
18:12
born a human was born Immortal right
18:15
yes
18:16
right
18:18
correct and then he then he was brought
18:20
back to life as a guy right
18:25
then he changed his name to Black Adam
18:27
you see why I'm going with this TV
18:30
does that mean the black man is God
18:33
Dwayne Johnson
18:36
that answer would be yes
18:43
all right brother I just want to run
18:45
that by you man hey good to see you
18:47
congratulations we got to do this in
18:49
person okay we got to do this in person
18:52
and I don't want to say this before we
18:54
wrap up I want to acknowledge something
18:55
man I just we go back a long way and I
18:58
and I always in a moment like this
19:00
because there's not many but I want to
19:02
acknowledge I appreciate you taking care
19:04
of me earlier on in the days when I was
19:07
still trying to turn a corner and you
19:10
know you were good to me man back then
19:11
BB I don't think I knew you back then it
19:13
was way in the back uh but you were
19:16
swaying I really appreciate that man
19:18
thank you at a time when you know not
19:20
everybody was so thank you very much
19:23
Dwayne that's all love brother you good
19:26
you're good to me back so let's stay
19:27
let's keep being good to each other all
19:30
right I appreciate you brother thank you
19:32
for that acknowledgment too man I'll see
19:34
you soon see you soon thank you thank
19:36
you thank you DB I appreciate you
19:38
brother you ever need me I'm right here
19:40
I got you too
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