Young Rock's Joseph Lee Anderson, Stacey Leilua & Ana Tuisila Talk Playing The Rock's Family, Season Three, More - Exclusive
You may think you have a wild and colorful family — until you watch "Young Rock," and realize you don't have any idea what a wild and colorful family is! NBC's hit comedy series looks back at the life of international megastar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as he recounts the many hurdles and opportunities that have been afforded to him, and a big part of Johnson's life has always been family.
The series portrays Johnson at four different points at his life, with three different actors helping to bring him to life at each stage. The rest of his family, however, continues to be played by the same actors despite the time jumps. Those actors are Joseph Lee Anderson who plays Johnson's father and WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson, Stacey Leilua, who plays his mother Ata, and Ana Tuisila, who plays his grandmother Lia. Each actor helps breath life into their respective members of Johnson's family, and help to bring levity as he navigates the many twists and turns of life.
In this exclusive interview with Wrestling Inc. Senior News Editor Nick Hausman, the three actors open up about what it's like to channel Johnson's family, special moments they have shared with him, potentially getting into the ring, and more!
Being The Johnsons
Oh my goodness. It's me and The Rock's family. This is wild. What's it like for you all, I guess, having to be members of The Rock's family? Does that bring a lot of weight? Are you nervous carrying that around with you?
Anderson: Before, yes, before we started filming, for me it was very nerve-wracking. But as soon as I saw Dwayne was happy then I was happy. Haven't been nervous since.
Yeah, for sure. And Stacey, have you ever had the chance to meet his mom, Ata, and spend time with her and talk to her, or no?
Leilua: Virtually, yes. Zoom calls, yeah. But we've filmed the majority of the show through COVID, and people ... don't know or do know ... we filmed in Australia, and so these guys were here in America, we were in Australia, and so there was just no way to connect. Yeah, no, but I'm hoping that there will be an opportunity for that real soon.
What's it talking to Dwayne's mom about him? Does she get too personal for you when she talks about her son, or what is that like?
Leilua: No, it was just really funny because the first time that we had the Zoom call, he was there too.
Oh wow, okay.
Leilua: Zoomed with both of them, but she was openly talking about stuff and you can see he was like, "Oh, okay mom," which I thought was ... it's just such a classic mum and son relationship. But it was, again, it was one of those really surreal moments, but like Joseph said before that, nervous. You feel like, "Oh my gosh, I've got this big responsibility and these shoes to fill and I hope I do it justice," and all these things. But from the moment I met them, all that just dissipated, because you understand that they just want the same thing you want. You all want to tell this beautiful story, and you want the work to be good, and that's what it's all about. So it was awesome. It was the right thing to do, and the right thing that I needed going into playing the character.
Sharing A Special Moment With Dwayne Johnson
Well Joseph, you had a very specific viral thing come up. The Rock shared this video set to music of you walking with him, and this beautiful message about how he wanted to walk with his dad, and so he walked with you. What's that like? That seems like a surreal experience. Can you walk us through that one for you?
Anderson: Yeah, I was just on a high from meeting him for the first time, but after reading that message, it really hit home about how important this show is. Obviously it's important, but ... you know what I mean ... it put it in a different perspective, to even take it a step further and try a bit harder. You know what I mean? It was very inspirational.
What was the conversation like, when you're walking with him like that?
Anderson: He was cool. I want to keep it private, just because that was kind of special. But yeah, he was very kind and very, very grateful.
Channeling Dwayne Johnson's Grandmother
Ana, how did this season feel different, I guess, than the other two seasons? How was the season different for you?
Tuisila: Well, for Lia, for the grandmother, she's still trying to get the wrestling promotion, and getting the business going, and introducing new wrestlers. But she also has this challenging time with passing on the business to her daughter, and in Season 2 you were introduced to Lars Anderson taking over. So there's this conflict between families, there's this conflict with trying to get the business going, and so there's a difference there. So Lia's part is quite ... she's out there a bit more in Season 3, and just trying to be a bit more outspoken, and trying to win the favor of her grandson.
She's got a little bit of an edge. How is that, getting to find that part of yourself, for you to bring that edge out when you're acting like that?
Tuisila: Well, a lot of credit should go to the writers. You've got these words in front of you, and then it's just trying to get focused into the characters. So it's not all about Ana trying to portray something. It's also credit to the writers, the directors, and the producers who put this together. So it's not just me trying to get this job done. It's about all this circle of people, who try to make sure that Ata is portrayed authentically.
And were you a huge pro wrestling fan before this show, or was this a whole new world for you, I guess?
Tuisila: Oh yes. Without ever divulging my age, I grew up wrestling ... and my dad and my uncle used to ... and being the eldest, and I was supposed to be a boy actually, so they'd take me along, the girl, the eldest, to the wrestling matches, and I did actually see Peter Maivia, Mark Lewin, and Andre the Giant.
Did you guys know this, by the way? Did you all know that she had seen all of these things? Okay, got it. Wonderful.
Tuisila: It was great. Standing in a queue on a cold winter school night. I remember it distinctly. So I don't know if you saw episode one, as Lia walks into to this room and she's in awe, and that's not acting, that is like, "Oh my goodness, there's Hulk Hogan," so it's just wonderful.
Jumping Feet-First Into Action
And what about you, Joseph? You're in there, you're bumping, you're falling around. Do you have a bite now to do more in wrestling? Do you want to go wrestle a match? Do you have any ambitions, I guess, beyond Young Rock to get into the ring?
Anderson: If the opportunity presented itself, I wouldn't mind doing a spot here and there.
Leilua: You heard it here first. Okay.
News!
Anderson: Anybody can get it. No, but after actually doing the moves and doing the wrestling with Chavo Guerrero, I have a whole new respect for the wrestlers and for the craft, because that stuff is not easy and it hurts. It hurts. So yeah.
Hey, the Bloodline is big business right now at WWE. Even just playing a member of the family, I think, can get you in that storyline right now. And to that end, Stacey, what was your fandom like for pro wrestling? Did you come into this thing a pro wrestling fan? Did you become a pro wrestling fan? What happened here with you?
Leilua: Very limited. I think I'd been to one wrestling match maybe in the early 2000s. So no, it was very limited. So that's another awesome thing about being on the show, is that it's kind of, I guess, taught me a lot, having awesome conversations with Brian Gewirtz, behind the scenes stuff, old school stuff. "Here's some documentaries. Oh, check this out, read this, da, da, da."
And so I've actually learned a lot about the history of wrestling while doing this show. And Joseph was saying, coming into it, I'll put my hand up and say, I thought, "Oh, I know they're kind of doing the stuff, but it's a little bit sort of pretend and they act the thing." That all went out the window as soon as I saw Chavo working with the boys, and these guys aren't stuntees, they're not wrestlers. We do have a few of them who come in on the show, but for the most part, these guys are just actors, and watching them go through it and then being there on set and in between takes. I remember popping my head in the ring like, "Oh my God, are you guys okay?" And they're like, "Look at this, look this." And they're beat up, and I'm just like, "Oh my God," so respect, and I make a point of correcting anyone who says that it's fake.
Learning From The Best
So obviously Joseph, he's going the full nine yards, he's putting on the trunks, right? And that's its own kind of confidence there to put on the trunks.
Anderson: How do I look in them trunks?
Nick: Dude, you look great. You look ... I got 'Soul Man.' I got the book over my shoulder here. We could hold it up side by side, like twinsies.
Anderson: Have you read Brian (Gewirtz)'s book? Have you read this?
I have that book as well. I talked to Brian, I interviewed him.
Anderson: Did you interview him about the book?
Yeah, I interviewed about the book. I think he might come back on for this as well. What a great guy. By the way, thank you Stacey, for bringing up Brian ... a lot of people want to know how obviously engaged Dwayne is with the show, but Brian's ... he's the secret sauce right there. He's the one that put a lot of the words in his mouth. So I don't know ... was that for all of you? Did you all have time to speak with Brian and work with him? Was he more hands on, I guess, day to day than I guess Dwayne would be?
Leilua: Yes, for sure. Brian's on set.
Tuisila: We break bread together. We break bread together. He's always there, yeah.
Cool. Yeah, and Chavo's the same way, and the cool thing about Chavo is, much like Dwayne, he's a generational talent. So you don't just get to learn wrestling and stuff around Chavo. I'm sure you're also getting the stories, right? Because that's most of pro-wrestling.
Leilua: Stories. So many stories. They all got stories.
Getting In On The Action
Stacey, do you go in, hit people? Are you learning to bump? Are you taking side suplexes alongside Joseph, or no?
Leilua: Are you talking about wrestling, or just in my everyday life? Depends if it's a bad day or not. No.
Dealer's choice, however you want to field the question.
Leilua: Uh, where's my coffee?
I'm taking that as a hard no. "Nick, I'm not getting in the ring. I'm not hitting." People are falling down right now.
Leilua: Oh look, we're talking about bloodlines, my grandfather was a boxer. He held the title in New Zealand somewhere ... it's somewhere in there. Who knows? Maybe.
So the big rumor is, and it was kind of teased on the show, is maybe The Rock, maybe Roman Reigns at WrestleMania this year. I'm sure you've all heard it, even if you're not reading wrestling news sites all the time. If that goes down, do you want to be there? Do you want to be in The Rock's corner? You want to be a part of the show? How do you feel about it?
Leilua: Of course. Yeah, would love to.
I see. And I'm seeing Ana here right now, and Ana, I'm going to guess you're going to be the one that's going to be the —
Tuisila: The answer's a straight no.