Page 2
Did the mother let you change the diapers?
Yes, the mother was - I couldn?t have done it with[out her]. I mean, she was so unbelievable.

What did they use for fake poop?
I don't know. I think Adam [Shankman, the director] would. If I had to guess, I?d probably say split pea soup.

Was it tough riding the kids bike?
No, it was easy. But it was also difficult because the size is so [small]. It was like a miniature bike but it wasn?t long before I started doing jumps and 360s in the air and table tops.

How tough was working with the duck?
The duck was everything you could imagine. The duck was supposedly a very gentle duck. I mean, when they described how the bite would feel, they basically did this to my finger [rubs finger]. ?It?ll never be more than that.? ?Are you sure that?s not going to draw blood and I?m going to get infected by some kind of lake disease?? ?No, because there?s no lake. It?s never drawn blood. Believe me, it?s fine.? I?m in a scene with Faith Ford, we?re going through our lines, pit pat pit, I hear some splatter on the counter. ?QUACK.? And my first inclination is, ?Motherf***er!? And then, ?I?m in a Disney picture. Ah, damn.?

It looked like the duck bit you hard.
It did. So now I have a duck as an earring, holding my ear. [It] finally decides to fly down to the bottom because it doesn?t want to be suspended in air on my ear. And my ear starts bleeding. Everybody runs from the set to because they?re like, ?We all promised and then it bit him, AGGHHH!? It was so funny.

It was so, so, so, so funny. All in good fun. My ear is okay.

There seems to be a trend of action movie stars playing against type. You, The Rock?
My mom says after the kind of arduous year we?ve all gone through as a country, my mom would say, ?Make ?em laugh, you?re so funny.? In that way that mothers do when they think that you could do something. ?You should make them laugh.? So that might be the theme. I think the theme for 2005 is going to be loving each other. I think you?ll find that in most of what you see this year.

Your character Shane loves his white T-shirts. What?s your favorite outfit?
Tank top, white tank top. The apple doesn?t fall far from the tree, and that is actually one of my favorite T-shirts.

Did you identify with helping direct the school play?
Totally. It was so much fun. That was so much fun. We started the film, really brilliance on Adam?s part, we started the film doing The Sound of Music sequence. So what that does is it brings a theatrical element to the production style right from the beginning. We all go back into our place of, you know, there?s guys that grew up in the New York that theater had a blast. I haven?t done that in so many years. It was nostalgic. And, of course, it really speaks to that relationship between him and Max [Thieriot]. It has to play out. In order for that to really work, Shane?s got to go all the way with it to say it?s okay for Max.

Were you a little scared doing the ?Panda? dance?
Yes. I had fun. That was probably the thing I was probably most anxious about, doing that on camera. I said, ?You know, are we sure we want to go all the way on this?? It worked for the plot.

What?s next for you?
What am I going to shoot next? Well, ?Hannibal? is forever haunting me, on the horizon, waiting. ?Hannibal? is at the summit of the Alps right now calling my name.