'Fighting With My Family' Trailer Brings Back Dwayne Johnson's "The Rock"
The People's Champ returns.
by Eric FranciscoIn Dwayne Johnson’s latest film he takes on an unexpected role, his old wrestling persona “The Rock.” Fighting With My Family, a new biopic following the life of retired WWE performer Paige features Johnson inhabiting his old character, a smack-talking, eyebrow-raising, jabroni beating, pie-eating, People’s Champ.
On Wednesday, the trailer for Fighting With My Family from director Stephen Merchant (who played Caliban in Logan) premiered online. Based on a 2012 documentary about the Bevis family, a real-life clan of English pro wrestlers, the film stars Florence Pugh (Netflix’s Outlaw King) as Saraya-Jade Bevis, who successfully tries out for the WWE but must leave behind her beloved brother, Zak (Jack Lowden) at home.
Bevis, who adopts the name “Paige,” later achieves fame as the youngest Divas Champion in WWE history, winning the title at the age of 21.
The film is produced by wrestling icon Dwayne Johnson and his studio Seven Bucks Productions. In the trailer, Johnson makes a cameo appearance as himself, where he spontaneously drops back into his old “The Rock” persona — an in-your-face star athlete who refers to himself only in the third person.
It’s been a few years since Johnson played his old “Rock” character. It’s been even longer since “The Rock” was in a feature film. In 2011, after several years of working in Hollywood, Johnson returned to the WWE, where he would wrestle The Miz, R-Truth, John Cena, and CM Punk. Then, in 2014, Johnson retired again to focus full-time on his acting career.
The only other time Johnson played “The Rock” was when he briefly appeared in the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat.
Fighting With My Family, which also stars Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead), Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), and Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers) as a WWE recruiter, was partially filmed at an actual WWE event in 2017 after a live taping of the company’s flagship show Monday Night RAW in Los Angeles.
Later that year, Paige retired from in-ring performing due to serious injury. She now has the onscreen role of SmackDown General Manager.
Fighting With My Family will premiere in theaters in February 2019.