Warner Bros.(ORLANDO) — Dwayne Johnson plays a Los Angeles Fire Department rescue helicopter pilot searching for his estranged daughter after an earthquake hits California in his latest action flick, San Andreas.
“It’s big. It’s epic. It’s relentless. It’s non-stop. It’s a ride that’s non-stop,” the former wrestler said of the film on Thursday’s Live with Kelly and Michael.
Several key scenes in San Andreas take place underwater, something Johnson said was a challenge to film.
“We built to scale the top of these high rises that are in downtown San Francisco. So when downtown San Francisco — without giving the movie away — gets hit with a tsunami, it gets submerged,” he explained. “And in this massive water tank, the size of a football field…we had to shoot these scenes underwater for weeks and weeks [with] four or five hundred members of the crew. It was pretty intense.”
Johnson said filming those particular scenes required specialized training. “I spent a lot of time just in terms of the prep because being a first responder, I had to be down there,” he said. “The scenes were long and I have to save my daughter who’s drowning, and it required me to swim through these office buildings.”
San Andreas, also starring Paul Giamatti and Kylie Minogue, shakes up theaters May 29.
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