The movie star and the country crooner recently spoke with ET about their new music video.
Dwayne Johnson is getting to live out his country music dreams in a music video for country crooner Chris Janson.
Speaking with ET's Kevin Frazier at the Desert 5 Spot in Hollywood, Johnson and Janson opened up about how they first met and the friendship that came from that fortuitous encounter.
"It's a great story how we met a couple years ago in a parking lot," Johnson said.
"[Back in 2022], we met in a parking lot in Los Angeles. My family and I were out here, I was doing some shows, and we were taking a few days off to chill at our favorite hotel," Janson recalled. "Honest to God, we were just waiting on our car to get pulled around to go to lunch and my kid was like, 'Dad, that's The Rock in front of us!' And I was like, 'OK, well, let's not bother him, you know, 'cause this is his home turf, probably,' and they said, 'Well, we gotta get an autograph!'"
"So I said, 'Hey Rock, would you mind meeting my kids?' And that's how it all happened, right there, and he was so gracious," Janson continued.
The country star's new song, "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," was born in that moment, and Janson said that the song "epitomizes" Johnson perfectly.
"We found a common bond quickly on treating people how you want to be treated, and it's really important to treat people nice, man," Janson said. "It's nice to be important..."
"[But] it's more important to be nice," Johnson chimed in, finishing the old adage on Janson's behalf.
According to the action star and WWE icon, Janson's "humility" and kindness was something that struck him right off the bat.
Johnson recalled: "His wife, when he introduced me to his family, his wife said, 'Hey, I know you love country music, he sings country music.' I said, 'What!?' And then, all of a sudden, I find out he's the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry, and we bonded in that parking lot over country music. We started singing [Hank Williams Jr.] songs in the parking lot, and it was just an amazing thing how the relationship happened."
For Johnson, his love of the genre goes back to childhood when he lived in Memphis "and all throughout the South" and his father, wrestling icon Rocky Johnson, introduced him to country music.
"By the time I was 8 years old, I could sing every Hank Jr. song, a lot of Hank Sr. songs, Merle [Haggard] songs, Johnny Paycheck," Johnson said. "I mean, all of them. So yeah, my love for country music goes way back."
According to Johnson, he and Janson also bonded over their early ambitions of breaking into the industry.
"I was in Nashville when I was 15 years old, we had no money, I was living in a motel, I had the bright idea that I could become a country star," Johnson said.
"Don't we all!" Janson interjected with a laugh.
"I went down to Broad Street and I started hanging out in these honky-tonks, and I tried to get into Tootsie's Famous Orchid Lounge," Johnson remembered. "That was my goal back then, to do that. So I think it's just so cool how life can come full circle. I meet Chris, we become great friends and he is living his dream, and I'm so happy for him in this world of country music."
Janson, meanwhile, actually got his professional start at Tootsie's Famous Orchid Lounge -- a world-famous hub for aspiring and successful country artists -- and it's this link between his past and Johnson's that makes Janson feel their friendship didn't just happen by chance.
"It's not a coincidence! It's just not. It's a God thing, it really is," Janson said. "When we met and we became friends, I instantly knew that this is not just a movie star and a wrestling star and a star. This is a real man... we connected [over] a real thing, which was music, the universal language. And it took over the friendship."
Johnson stars in the music video for Janson's new song, "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," and the singer explained that the movie star wasn't initially part of the plan.
Janson explained, "I was shooting the video, we had done the preliminary work at Bass Pro Shops, which is, you know, that's like my second home, we were doing this awesome footage, [but] I said, 'It's just not... feeling done to me yet, and I would like to invite DJ to do it.' Of course, thinking, you know, he's very busy. His schedule is just wildly crazy and aligning those two would almost be impossible."
So he sent out a text, not expecting much to come of it, and in the early morning, Johnson responded with an enthusiastic 'Yes.'
"He said, 'Hey, you want to be in this video?' I said, 'Absolutely! Just send me the song.' I hadn't even heard the song, [but it] doesn't matter," Johnson noted. "So he sends me the song, I love the song, and I hit him back and I said, 'Man, the song is catchy, I think the fans are gonna love it!'"
Through some clever coordinating and some on-the-fly adapting, the pair managed to find time to meet up and make the music video happen.
As Johnson explained, country music is more than just a genre he enjoys -- but rather, it's an emotional link to his late father, who died in January 2020 at age 75.
"Country music connects me with my dad, and I miss my dad, you know? I lost him unexpectedly in 2020, and it was a way that we bonded," shared Johnson, who got emotional thinking back about his father. "My dad was a professional wrestler before the big bright lights of WWE. This is why we lived in Texas and Georgia and Tennessee and Florida."
"I spent so much time in my childhood in the backseat of his car, driving from town to town, doing these wrestling shows, and he loved country music and that's all he played and that was our bond," Johnson recalled.
The actor explained that his deep-rooted connection to the Grand Ole Opry and different country music cornerstones is something that now bonds him with Janson as well -- and this is why Janson's suggestion of them performing together at the Grand Ole Opry is so meaningful for him.
"If there's a moment where we're on stage at the Opry, it's just [going to be] so much more than a song. It's a brotherhood, it [represents] a father-son relationship, [too]," Johnson said.
"I’m just gonna call it here," a tearful Janson shared. "When we make our Opry debut together, we will just call it 'A Night For Rocky.'"
"I remember the sights, the smells, the sound of the speakers in a Buick, riding down the road and listening to those same kinds of songs," Janson shared. "Just remembering growing up, not having a whole lot, and just wondering, 'Is the dream ever gonna come true?' And sitting here, in this room, in this very moment, reminds me that the American dream is so possible, and that family is so important. And to see a guy get so vulnerable, talking about his dad and that relationship, man -- that's what we're gonna make it. We're gonna make it 'A Night for Rocky.'"
"That’s amazing," Johnson said, wiping tears from their eyes.
Janson's new music video for his single "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" is out April 19 and features Johnson. Janson is also currently on the road touring.
RELATED CONTENT:
