The Rock on how 'Black Adam' is a movie we've never seen before
Dwayne Johnson and the cast of Black Adam reveals to Yahoo Entertainment how the film is different from any other comic book movie we've seen.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- You can be the destroyer of this world. Or you can be its savior.
KEVIN POLOWY: What is this movie gonna show us that we've never seen in a comic book movie?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: I think what this movie will show you is a tone that you've never seen in a comic book movie before, in a superhero movie. And also, you're gonna see a character that has never been on the big screen before.
So exposing Black Adam to the world before me, there's not been any other actors to reference who have played Black Adam. So it's just me. It's mine to screw up. So, hopefully, the world will love it.
KEVIN POLOWY: There is that great line in the trailer where you're like-- or there somebody was like, "Heroes don't kill people. I kill people." Is this your highest body count? Can we count on this?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: I don't know if it's the highest body count. But what I can tell you is it's the most raging and violent dismemberment.
KEVIN POLOWY: Is this gonna be, like, DJ's, like, highest body count that we've seen yet? How much killing is there in this movie?
HIRAM GARCIA: Oh, yeah, for sure. His body count in this already surpasses anything we've done before. And it's important for us. I mean, that is one of the great things about Black Adam is that he will not pull his punches.
And I think, for us, we love that debate where you look at traditional heroes who have that stereotypical hero kind of moral code, people will always ask, you know, how many times would Batman put the Joker in prison and let him get out and supposedly kill more people? But with Black Adam, you will never have that question
JAUME COLLET-SERRA: It's even harder to count. I think-- like, I think that-- I'm sure somebody will. I'm sure somebody will.
KEVIN POLOWY: Hundreds, thousands, millions?
JAUME COLLET-SERRA: No. I think that-- no, I mean, it's like-- no, it's not in the thousands. But it's just so fast. And it's so-- and there's a lot of action.
There's a lot of action that is just intense. And there's some really cool kills in it. But we're trying to keep a tone that is, like, on the edge.
BEAU FLYNN: It was important to Hiram and I to have a higher body count than John Wick. And I feel like we--
KEVIN POLOWY: You did it? You did it?
BEAU FLYNN: I feel like we--
HIRAM GARCIA: I think so. I think--
BEAU FLYNN: --achieved it.
HIRAM GARCIA: --there's some stuff that just happens in big explosions. I don't know if you'll literally be able to count. But trust us. He's killing a lot of people.
BEAU FLYNN: Yeah, he's killing a lot of people.
ALDIS HODGE: John Wick levels is-- it's pretty fair. Definitely, it's a new type of superhero. And we take risks and chances that people haven't seen. So when it comes to that, you'll be thoroughly surprised.
I mean, you saw the trailer. You know what's up. Please believe. That [BLEEP] is the very-- it's not even tip of the iceberg. But Black Adam goes in.
DWAYNE JOHNSON: Well, John Wick doesn't, like, just rip arms off of bodies--
KEVIN POLOWY: Yes.
DWAYNE JOHNSON: --and fly them up in the air.
KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah.
DWAYNE JOHNSON: That's his mode. That's his MO.
KEVIN POLOWY: Was that tricky to pull off? It's PG-13.
JAUME COLLET-SERRA: Well, you know, we're still in the process. But, you know, it is hard. It is hard because that's Black Adam, you know? And so that's where, in the tone, we try to do things in a way that are suggestive. Some of them are graphic. But you know they're bad guys.
HIRAM GARCIA: And we got a great idea when the MPAA hit us, and they're like, guys, we got to talk about what's on this movie. We said, OK. Let's have a conversation.
KEVIN POLOWY: You had to tone it down a lot.
BEAU FLYNN: We're still-- we're still--
HIRAM GARCIA: We're still talking to them.
BEAU FLYNN: --talking about that. We're still talking to them.
HIRAM GARCIA: We're still-- they came to us, and we're like, we high-fived each other. Like, good.
BEAU FLYNN: We did our job.
HIRAM GARCIA: Yeah. Yeah. Now we'll figure it out.
KEVIN POLOWY: It was NC-17 to start. And now about where are you now?
BEAU FLYNN: It was actually unrated. Then we got it to NC. And now we're trying to get it to PG-13.
HIRAM GARCIA: Yeah.
KEVIN POLOWY: I heard a rumor that for his character, they didn't actually use any special effects, that he actually learned how to fly. He learned how to survive explosions. He learned how to shoot lightning and thunder out of his hands. Can you confirm this?
QUINTESSA SWINDELL: You didn't know that?
KEVIN POLOWY: No. I thought-- I assumed it was a rumor.
QUINTESSA SWINDELL: It's confirmed.
KEVIN POLOWY: We're confirming it.
NOAH CENTINEO: He shoots lightning out of his eyes.
KEVIN POLOWY: All of it. It's all real. It's all practical.
NOAH CENTINEO: Oh, yeah. You saw him in "Hall H," right?
KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah.
NOAH CENTINEO: Yeah, he was Black Adam. Black Adam came to Hall H.
JAUME COLLET-SERRA: Everybody saw it today, right?
KEVIN POLOWY: Yeah, yeah. It's all him. He just appeared in front of 6,000 people, and he made-- he lit up the room.
KEVIN POLOWY: So 100% practical.
JAUME COLLET-SERRA: So then that was just, you know, with a camera and just make sure he was in focus. That was the hard part because he moves so fast.
- The world needed a hero. Instead, they've got me.
