Dwayne Johnson opens up about how events in his personal life helped him connect to the problems of single father rescue pilot Ray Gaines in his new earthquake thriller 'San Andreas'; his second movie with director Brad Peyton which hits the UK today.

Dwayne Johnson in 'San Andreas'Dwayne Johnson says 'San Andreas' role was 'meant to be'

The movie sees a first responder helicopter pilot on a journey to rescue his estranged daughter following a devastating earthquake along the San Andreas fault in California. And while Dwayne Johnson might never have been stuck in a natural disaster of this scale himself, he certainly knows what it's like to experience the deeper issues that Ray Gaines is going through.

'I know what it's like to be divorced, I know what it's like to struggle to be a good dad and appreciate the dad-daughter relationship that I have', he confesses. 'I love that relationship, but a lot of times when you're divorced and you're going through it, you're wondering, 'Am I making the right decisions? Am I doing the right things?' Everything is trial by error and you just don't know. It's not like I had multiple kids'.

Watch the trailer for 'San Andreas' here:



Johnson became divorced from his wife of ten years Dany Garcia in 2007, with whom he has a 13-year-old daughter named Simone. The pair separated amicably and remained good friends, but there's no doubt that this experience still had a lasting impression on the former wrestler, who believes he could never have played the role right had he not been able to empathise. 'I think it's meant to be that I play this guy at this particular time in my life', he explains. 'Couldn't have played him ten years ago. Would've been a different movie.'

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'San Andreas' arrives at UK cinemas today (May 28th 2015).

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