NEW YORK — Dwayne Johnson says it was impossible not to take his work home with him on his new TNT reality series, "Wake Up Call."
"By the end of the very first day of shooting I'm driving in my truck back home," the wrestler-turned-actor said. "I wasn't laughing like this! I was drained. I was completely drained, emotionally drained." The show premieres Friday (9 p.m. ET).
On "Wake Up Call," Johnson, 42, with the help of experts in various fields, attempts to confront and then help people who are down on their luck or who have made poor choices in their lives.
"It's tough. There's a lot of tears and there's a lot of crying and you're right there," he said. "... Did I take it home? Yeah, I took it home every night."
Johnson, aka The Rock, was there himself in the 1990s. He recalls having just $7 and a rap sheet with multiple arrests. Then he decided to give up his NFL dream and begin again. He became a professional wrestler and later an actor. His films include "Fast & Furious 6," "The Scorpion King" and "G.I. Joe: Retaliation."
He talked about "Wake Up Call" in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
AP: You're an executive producer on "Wake Up Call." Why did you decide to put yourself on camera and involve yourself in people's lives?
Johnson: I felt like because I was there and I lived it and I experienced it, it was a good opportunity for me to connect with these individuals on the show. ... I felt like let's put our best foot forward, and if we're gonna ask people to trust us and put in the work I felt like I should be right there.
