Watch the Rock punch an earthquake.
NewsThere’s something to be said for a good old-fashioned disaster movie and it looks like that’s what we’re getting with San Andreas, the upcoming film in which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson goes head to head with the mother of all earthquakes. Of course, this ain’t no Irwin Allen joint starring a bunch of aging Hollywood icons; this is a modern, no-expense-spared destruction fest starring the screen’s biggest current action hero, and the new trailer unspooled at WonderCon (which is not yet online) emphasizes the scale of this thing.
It doesn’t seem possible that a movie could knock over more skyscrapers than San Andreas does, but in addition to crumbling office towers we get a look at the mountain-sized tsunami that crashes onto the coast of California and threatens to drown both the Rock and his daughter, played by the luscious Alexandra Daddario (True Detective). Amidst all the carnage, there’s a semblance of an emotional through-line about the Rock attempting to reunite with Daddario and his equally lovely wife (Carla Gugino), because two hours of California being pulverized without some human element would be too much. Paul Giamatti is also on hand to deliver stern warnings about what will happen when the quake hits in that gravelly, doom-laden way that only Giamatti can.
[Related: San Andreas: New Trailer for Dwayne Johnson's Next Flick]
At a brief Q&A following the trailer, Gugino, Daddario and director Brad Peyton were on hand to make sure we all know that this film is not just destruction porn. “Ultimately, this is a film about a family under attack,” noted Gugino, saying that the movie is full of “big emotions.” Peyton concurred, hinting at a scene where the Rock stops fighting the quake for a moment to say a prayer over a deceased character: “We wanted to go there and reach those emotional heights,” he said, adding that Johnson has “never been better.”
Peyton also emphasized that most of what we’ll see onscreen was done with practical effects: “My priority was to make it as real as possible. It has to be legit.” He added that avoiding CG as much as possible makes it both more real to the audience and to the actors and crew: “When you see it in camera, you can tell (the movie is) raw and real.”
Who doesn’t want to see the Rock duke it out with what Peyton promises is the biggest earthquake in recorded history? San Andreas opens on May 29.
