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We sent ace reporter John Gaudiosi to the Czech Republic for an exclusive interview with The Rock from the set of Universal Pictures' upcoming flick DOOM. What did we learn? The Rock has a surprisingly foul mouth.

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC--The Rock is having a great time today on the set of the big budget Hollywood adaptation of id Software's best-selling Doom game. The actor, who's dressed in space combat fatigues, has been dying over and over again today. Outside, snow covers the cold ground in the fairytale setting of Prague, one of the most beautiful cities in winter. Inside, the sound stages last used to bring AVP to the big screen have been transformed into the different levels of Doom's Hell.

Chains of Command

As Sarge, the bad-ass leader of the space Marines sent to investigate the strange happenings at UAC's Mars research facility, it's the first role where The Rock plays a not-so-nice guy. It's also the first time the actor, who shined in a supporting role as the gay country western singer/bodyguard in Be Cool, doesn't receive top billing and doesn't live to star in a potential sequel.

But that's okay for the former WWE superstar, who is the only professional wrestler that's made a successful transition from the theatrics inside the ring to in-demand Hollywood action star. The Rock was actually offered the part of John "Reaper" Grimm, the lead role in the Doom film, but he fell in love with Sarge and talked the producers into letting him flex his muscle into this role.

"What's important to me early on, when I signed on to do the movie, was to make sure that with a title like Doom, it should convey fear and it should convey reality," said The Rock. "And it's interesting because I think if you put The Rock in Doom, it is like, 'Oh, The Rock. He's gonna save the day; it's like one of those types of movies.' So I wanted to make sure that that didn't happen. It's great to have a title where the title itself is the star of the movie. And, to be part of an ensemble cast is great and to be the leader of this great group of marines who all have different personalities, it's a lot of fun. Not only that, but I get to play my first BMFOP, the Baddest Motherf*cker On the Planet! (Laughs) I'm excited about that. I had my first execution last week, and that was interesting and surreal. I don't know if anybody's ever executed anybody, but it's... (Laughs)"

From Hardware to Hellware

Theres plenty of gore in the R-rated film, which pushes the envelope of horror on the big screen. Bloody corpses litter the set everywhere you turn. Mannequins of dismembered UAC employees are scattered about. For one sequence in the film, amputees were flown in to add a new dimension of terror to a post-demon siege as survivors flailing about in the wake of mass destruction.

"I was speaking with Andrzej (the director) and I said that with the rated R rating, we have the ability to really scare people and I think we should scare the sh*t out of people. And he goes, 'Well, we're not going to do that.' Long pause. 'Sh*t.' And I said, 'What do you mean?' And he said, 'We're going to f*cking terrify them!' (Laughs) I was like, 'That's great.'"

One thing Doom 3 has done is bring new technology and many Hollywood horror elements, including the use of surround sound, into the universe to scare players. Many of those same techniques will be employed on screen, as the dark corridors and terrifying monsters from Hell come to life in both CGI and in live-action form.

"I think it's important too with videogame adaptations, not to mention any in the past, but if you have a good video game, it's important to make sure it's good on screen," said The Rock. "When I found out the producers were John Wells and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, I thought that was fantastic."

Breaking The Rock

Playing on the Doom set has been a blast for the actor, who also happens to be a video game fan in his spare time.

"It's almost like reliving a childhood dream of being able to carry around and use four guns at one time," said The Rock. "I've got a BFG, I've got a rifle, I've got the handgun and I've also got this chaingun that one of the characters, Destroyer, uses, that is basically one of those guns that's mounted on top of a Humvee that our soldiers use. So if you can imagine, you take that gun and put a strap to it. It's awesome."

The Rock is fascinated with the military, and he's a big fan of the U.S. Armed Forces. So it was a great thrill to be part of the film's two-week boot camp.

"I think, number one, we could all get together as a group, which I think was important and we were thrown together for two weeks," said The Rock, who added that he would have loved to have had more time. "Tom McAdams is our military advisor. And I'm a fan of our military, you know military personnel just for that matter, so I was a pain in the ass to Tommy. Just like during class, I would go in a different direction, like I didn't really want to talk about what we were going to do in Doom, I wanted to specifically talk about what he's gone through and his own journeys. And he's like, 'Oh, we'll talk about that later Dwane,' and I'm like, 'Okay.'"

The Rock has a very militaristic training regiment. He was up at 5:30 a.m. every day in the gym working out before the long shooting days. The film shot six days a week for about 12 hours a day.

After shooting the football drama, Gridiron Gang, The Rock is open to new challenges, including comedy and playing a full-out bad guy.

"Yeah, I would love to. I would absolutely love to," said The Rock. "And this is why I took Sarge too, because he still had that streak about him too that made him bad. It's interesting too, trying to find moments in the movie where the audience really, really hates the character. Hopefully it comes with that execution."

The Rock also wants to explore his comic talents, which were clearly evident during his WWE reign. He said he'd love to collaborate with Will Farrell.

"We have a couple of ideas," said The Rock. "Sometimes I bog myself down because I've got so much shit in my head man. Action-wise, I would love to do something with Jason Statham. I really, really like what he does. He was the guy from The Transporter. Yeah, I met him one time. He was really, really cool. Johnny Bravo is another one that's coming up? Do you guys know Johnny Bravo? Yeah, I'm not doing a cartoon on it, but yeah it's great, very, very funny."

Not Done Cooking Yet

And The Rock is also going to jump into yet another big budget videogame film for Universal Pictures. This one is based on Midway Games' Spy Hunter.

"You know what? I lucked out," said The Rock. "Really, with a movie like Spy Hunter, same studio, really went after the writing aspect and has great producers, as well. It's not just making a movie because the videogame was popular, but really making an awesome movie. And with Spy Hunter, it's great. With the car and the comedic elements as well, a little bit of True Lies as well."

Luck probably has a little to do with it, but The Rock is genuinely a nice guy. He's down-to-earth, despite the huge paychecks he now receives for starring in films, and he loves to talk about videogames, especially Madden. He's the kind of guy that you can't help rooting for, because he's one of the good ones. And for videogame fans, The Rock has been influential in bringing Doom to the big screen, and will have the same weight to transform Spy Hunter into a film franchise.

For the past decade, John Gaudiosi has covered videogames for news outlets like The Washington Post. He currently serves as the videogame reporter for The Hollywood Reporter, focusing on the convergence of games and entertainment. He also contributes to Playboy Magazine, Wired Magazine and Delta Sky Magazine, and serves as a video game expert for NBC.

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