Young Rock Star on Playing Teenage Dwayne Johnson

Hi, my name is Bradley Constant and today I'm talking to Young Hollywood.

Okay, so talking about Young Rock and filming and everything, how did you find out that you got the part?

Well, it was after a few auditions. My first audition was in January of last year. Um, I had a few auditions and then I ended up having a um a test on the lot in March, about a week before everything shut down. Um and that went that went okay, but it's funny, in the last audition, I had a I didn't have a mustache yet. It's the iconic, Dwayne at 15 mustache. Yep. So they had to glue one onto my lips. And halfway through my performance, it started flapping off. And about four or five times it had to keep coming in and gluing it back. I was like, you know what, this audition probably isn't going super well. Yeah, but we just rolled with it and I had fun. You know, it's one of those things that's like, you know, you can let that turn into a bad thing and freak out, like, oh, audition's over or you know, you made it there already, you might as well have fun. So, we rolled with it and then everything shut down right after that audition. And like, maybe it was like a week and a half later, I got a call and my rep was like, um, hi, am I speaking to um, Bradley Constant who is uh, starring as Young Rock on blah blah blah and then my mom just starts screaming and I'm like, I'm trying to listen, I can't hear. What they're saying. So, it was it was super exciting and then um, you know, there was a long time from once I had booked it to when we actually started shooting.

Oh god, yeah. Yeah, so the anticipation was real. I bet when you like everything shut down, you're like, oh my god, like I what's going to happen now? But luckily it was like only like

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was that was my first that was my first thought. And I was still working at a grocery store every day. So, every day I go to the store, I was like, I'm hoping I get an email today, please.

Do you still work there?

No. Not right now. No. Take it. Yeah, I would go back, but ironically, the store, the specific store I was working at, um, shut down just before I left. So, I was able to take like a little payment to leave. And then I was going to leave anyways. Yeah.

It kind of worked out.

It kind of worked out, yeah.

Did you watch the Rock growing up?

Yeah. Yeah. I grew up watching them when I was little. My earliest memory is probably watching them wrestling with my dad. Yeah. Um, and then Walking Tall was the first movie I saw of him and I followed him pretty much ever since.

Did you always kind of know, like, did people like, oh, like you look like him? Like, I know obviously there's an age difference. But do you, like, you see the similarity, right? Like you probably always kind of knew, you're like, I kind of do look like him.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, some people have have said that before, like, oh, you kind of look like, you know, everybody goes through their um, you know, everybody goes through their celebrity look-alikes list. Right. Yeah, I have like Aaron Gordon, uh, the basketball player. Other than that, it was Dwayne Johnson, yeah.

Mm-hm. And when you once you booked it, like you were filming and everything like that, what was it like, 'cause you were on set with him probably every day, so what was it like him like probably hearing stories about how he was when he was younger and like learning from him, what his life was like?

Um, it was it was kind of surreal because I slowly started to learn how many things we actually did have in common. And of course, you like I I grew up watching him. He's a famous guy. But you know, once I got to chat with him and actually get to know him, it felt like I was just talking to a normal person, you know, and especially because the era that I'm playing at 15 is a time that nobody knew who he was. You know, and this is a time where he was definitely more relatable than now. And he still is actually very relatable. But, you know, there were a lot of specific things that, you know, I could pull back from my being 15 and kind of relate to that.

Yeah. 'Cause I was going to ask you. I was like, did you find that your real lives were actually similar? So, it's ironic that they actually were.

In in some ways, you know, not exactly the same. You know, like for for example, when I was 15, I was already like 6'2". Um, but I wasn't huge. I wasn't super muscular when I was 15, thank you. But you know, there's some small things and then, you know, some of the family struggles that he dealt with that comes up in the show, um, you know, and definitely, you know, playing him is real fun because I kind of get to relive like do 15 over again. And be a little bit more, uh, a little bit more wild than I actually was at 15.

So we're going to play a little game. It's when I was younger, so it's going to be about your life, okay? When you were younger. Compared to the show and like the Rock and stuff like that. So, when you were younger, what was your favorite movie that the Rock was in?

Definitely Walking Tall.

Uh, what were you obsessed with in your free time when you were a kid?

Gosh. Star Wars. We and this is my mom, my first experience watching Star Wars was the VHS VHS tapes. Oh wow. Sounds like an old foreign thing, but my mom had them saved from however knows how long ago. And I would just binge watch them every day after school, watch Return of the Jedi over and over again. I'm a super Star Wars nerd, so you see I got a mug on a Star Wars mug. And Baby Yoda's from Star Wars, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh. Baby Yoda. I have a Baby Yoda here too. I was going to say, aren't you obsessed with Baby Yoda then?

Yeah. Grogu's my man.

Um, what did you want to be when you grew up? What did you think you were going to be?

An actor.

You did. Okay.

Well for the for the most part, I think you know, I decided I wanted to start acting when I was 12. But up until that point, I really wanted to play Major League Baseball. Um, but I had surgery on my arm, I kind of got out of it for a year. I tried out three times in a row and that didn't work out. I was like, gosh, what am I going to do, you know? Um, looked up some acting classes. My first acting class, absolutely loved it. Yeah. Um, and here we are.

How old are you actually in real life? Well, this is real life.

I'm 22.

That's ironic 'cause what sport did you play in middle school? Was it baseball?

Baseball. Yeah. Pitcher first base.

What was your favorite TV show growing up?

Ooh. Oh, this is hard. Hmm. Can I give two?

Yeah.

Okay, okay, okay. Hannah Montana. That's that's a guilty pleasure. I'm sorry.

No, I was obsessed with it.

Um, and goodness. All right, no, we'll just stick with that one. We'll just stick with one. Yeah. Just Hannah. Shout out Hannah. Yeah. I had the biggest I had the biggest crush on Miley Cyrus, so.

What is one thing that you would tell your younger self? Or guess your 15-year-old self, since that's what you play.

Oh. Um, I would say just just keep pushing forward, don't overthink it. Uh, I think when I was 15, I always felt like time was running out still. I was like, oh, I'm getting old. Like, you're 15. You know, and here I'm seven years later. Old now, just kidding. Exactly. Oh yeah, yeah. But like, you know, just really enjoy the moments in between, you know, all the small things that happen, you know, slow down, don't rush it, just trust the process, you know, and and don't compare yourself to other people. You know, really just focus on your path, your journey, things happen for you when they happen for you regardless of other people.

If you told your 15-year-old self that you would be the Rock one day, the Rock, what would you say?

I'd be like, shoot, all right. I'd be like, it's, you know, you have to kind of have that that hope and that belief that something would happen. Otherwise, 'cause you know, Hollywood is, you know, there's so many no's you get, you know, if if you let a no deter you from believing that something like that could happen, you got to be super hopeful and, you know, anything can happen type mentality.

Mm-hm. Well, thank you so much for talking to us at Young Hollywood today.

Of course. Thank you so much. Hope you like it.

Okay, congrats on the show. We can't wait for it.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Hope you like it.