The Rock Goes Soft

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson came to fame as a formidable professional wrestler, but he's showing his softer side in the new Disney movie "The Game Plan."

Johnson plays a star quarterback at the top of his game who discovers that he fathered and 8-year-old girl. She unexpectedly shows up at his door and wreaks havoc on his bachelor pad that he shares with only his bulldog.

He may appear to be a tough guy, but Johnson said co-star Madison Pettis was easy to fall in love with.

"What's incredible about that, not only is she incredibly successful and talented but very, very humble," he told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "My kudos go out to her mom, Michelle. She's done a wonderful job."

The Rock said he bonded with Madison right away and embraced her like she was his own. In real life, he has a 6-year-old daughter, so relating to Madison wasn't too difficult.

It was also fun for Johnson to play an over-the-top, arrogant character who can't stop watching himself on ESPN. The football theme wasn't a stretch: Johnson played football at the University of Miami, but this role was his first ever comedic lead.

"It was incredibly rewarding for me," he said. "I love comedy, love doing comedies. I wanted to do a big comedy like this, a family comedy. There's nothing like making people laugh and feeling good. So whether it's physical comedy, self-deprecating comedy like there was a lot of in 'The Game Plan,' as long as they're laughing that's all that matters."

So in the name of comedy, the Rock wore a tutu and tights and learned ballet.

"Of course, you know, Madison, her character loves ballet," he said. "And I went through two, three weeks of ballet with the Boston Ballet. Those little kids were amazing. There is nothing like putting myself in a skin-tight green leotard. Really. Wait until you see me in that."

But most importantly, Johnson, who usually stars in action films, said this was the first of his movies that he and his daughter were able to watch together.

"With anything in the past, whatever the successes were, didn't matter to her; doesn't matter," he said. "But I do a big Disney movie, now she's watching it with me. Truth is, between a father and daughter, it was really wonderful because she number one, like most 6-year-olds, really doesn't sit through an entire movie. So she sat through this."

Johnson said they watched the entire movie together, and during one scene where his character loses his daughter, his real life daughter could see how upset he was.

"She looked at me, then she threw her arms around me and she said, 'It's OK,' " he said. "The entire theater is looking. I'm like 'It's OK.' But it was wonderful to watch it with her."