- Welcome back, everybody. (audience applauding)
I'm here with Dwayne Johnson.
(audience cheers)
All right, before the break
we talked about Dwayne's father being a wrestler.
But actually his grandmother was a groundbreaker
in the field as well.
So Dwayne, in your new show, "Young Rock"
you were actually able to have a hand
in casting her as well as your mother, right?
- Yes, absolutely.
And we have Ana and Stacey who are here now.
- What's up, ladies?
How are you doing?
Thank you so much for joining us.
(audience claps)
So everybody right now
from halfway around the world
here are Stacey Leilua, and Ana Tuisila.
Give it up!
(audience applauds)
So where are you calling from?
- So I'm calling from Auckland, New Zealand
at the moment in a quarantine facility.
Just got back last week.
So yeah here I am.
- Oh wow, what was it like being like picked by him?
Was that like,
I mean it's got to be such an honor
that somebody's that into what you do
and then to be picked for this show
that represents his life.
- For sure.
You know, auditioning for the role
and I guess you go
through the normal audition process
and it didn't actually dawn on me until someone said,
"Hey, do you think,
Dwayne's surely like casting you guys
because you're his family.
Of course he would do that."
And that's when it kind of dawned on me and I thought,
oh okay, yeah, that's probably exactly what had happened.
And then that was confirmed
when we chatted on our Zoom.
And you said you'd shown your mom and stuff.
And yeah it's just an incredible,
amazing opportunity that I'm grateful
for every day (chuckles).
- Well, Ana you want to tell us a little
about your character?
- Yes, well, thanks for the opportunity.
Lia, I play Lia,
Dwayne Johnson's grandmother.
Very little is known about her
because she was very much
a woman behind the scenes.
But she was a very strong woman.
A very strong woman with no holds barred.
She was feared but she was well-respected
and loved by all.
She worked very hard to ensure
that she lived on her husband's dream.
And that was very hard in terms of working
in a male-dominated sport,
particularly doing wrestling.
So she was tough and she had to be
in order to succeed where wrestling field is now.
- Kelly, if I could jump in and say that
when we talked about how it's just so surreal
this entire process has been for me.
I've never experienced anything like this
in my entire career.
And I probably won't experience
anything like this ever again,
just in terms of taking a look back
at my life and all these defining moments and times
and struggling times and the intersections that I've had
in my wild life growing up and now to be able to cast
Ana and Stacey.
As you know,
my grandmother and my mom were the pillars of my life.
And I was raised by strong women, by both of them.
And this incredible job that Stacey has done playing my mom
but also that Ana has done playing my grandmother.
Just so you know, Kelly and your audience,
my grandmother was the first female wrestling promoter.
And if you think about it, in the '70s and '80s,
how wrestling was as a culture
and then on top of that, you throw a woman into the mix.
Then on top of that, you throw a woman
into the mix who is going to be a promoter.
Who's telling these wrestlers what they're going to do
and who's going to win and who's going to lose.
And how incredibly difficult that was.
So she promoted with an iron fist
and she was not taking any you know what off of anybody
she was incredibly tough and she had to be tough.
And then, eventually
and this is documented, we documented this in the show,
she was so tough
that the feds actually bought her up
on extortion charges (laughs).
Now that's a whole other story,
but what they were able to do, Stacey and Ana
and really ground and bring my mom
and my grandmother to life was just really extraordinary.
So I really, I just want to take a moment
to give it up to these incredible women.
I'm just so grateful.
And when you see them in our show
and the performances they give are just phenomenal.
(audience applauds)
- I can't, oh my gosh.
Like, I mean, as an actor,
like I can't imagine Ana getting to play.
I say character, obviously it's a real person,
but to play a character like that,
such a bold woman.
I can imagine it's probably still to this day,
male dominated when it comes to promoting wrestling.
I mean, it's probably still there.
That's what I'm saying.
So it's still a pioneer kind of thing to do.
So to play that kind of role has to be incredible.
What an opportunity to just get
to play someone so bold and strong.