World Wrestling Federation star turned actor The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) first came to prominence in The Mummy Returns. He was so prominent, in fact, that his brief turn spawned a spin-off starring vehicle, The Scorpion King. After Welcome To The Jungle (aka The Rundown) and this summer's Steven Seagal-esque vehicle Walking Tall, he gets to flex his acting muscles in Be Cool (aka Get Shorty 2).

We all know you can do action sequences, but Welcome To The Jungle allows you to show us that you can do comedy too. That's a new thing for you...

I think so. I wanted to do a movie that was entertaining. I also wanted to do a movie that had a lot of comedy in it, and I thought that this movie had all those elements. Peter Berg was able to capture that, directing-wise.

The on-screen rapport you have with Seann William Scott really comes across, especially with the comedy - how special is that for you?

Oh sure, that's the operative word - special. We wanted to try and create something special - not necessarily something you haven't seen, but special. Seann's great! He was more than willing to hang out with me for three months before we started shooting and get to know me - what I like, what I don't like. And I got to know him. That chemistry really, really showed and I really liked that. Seann's a very, very funny guy and he's one of those guys who, in a second, will give himself up for the sake of the joke. That's really cool.

This film speaks to both your fan bases - the fans who love you for action and the fans who love Seann for comedy. Was that part of the appeal of the project?

Absolutely. But it was our goal not only to play to both fan bases but for me to open eyes, to showcase more comedy than anybody was used to seeing me do. And for Seann to be viewed as someone other than Stifler in American Pie because he's done three of those movies. In this movie, he's smart; he's a little bit of a wiseass but he's a smart guy. He's a scrappy guy. He stands up for what he believes in, and he's more than willing to fight me.

Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a cameo at the beginning of the film. Does this scene mean he's officially handing over his action hero mantle to you?

I hope that all the movies he could have done I can do now! Arnold and I have been friends for a long time, and the cameo just happened and it's cool. I never thought his cameo would turn into what it turned into. I thought it would just be fun, but I never anticipated it would be such the big issue that it has become. If I can have half the career that Arnold has had, I'd be very, very lucky and satisfied with that.