Shark and Awe: Summer’s Guiltiest Pleasure Returns With Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!

Stomp aside, Indominus Rex. Jurassic World’s designer dino has nothing on the true king of hybrid menaces: the improbable and seemingly unstoppable mash-up of disaster movies and apex predators known as Sharknado. And with Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, the third blast of shark-infested high winds and higher camp, they’ve gone and gotten a much bigger boat.

“It’s so strange: We’re a little TV movie, and everyone is treating it like a huge summer blockbuster,” marvels Anthony C. Ferrante, the trilogy’s director, still stunned at the franchise’s ferocious success. He’s not alone. Almost everyone involved in 2013’s original Sharknado was awash in disbelief when the masses devoured the cheapo flick, which saw Los Angeles being assaulted by a cheesy, shark-tossing tornado. “I never thought the movie would even see the light of day,” confesses Ian Ziering, whose heroic ex-surfer and pun-fully named Fin Shepard has since become the series’ Bruce Willis of murderous makos. “I assumed it would come and go.”

“When I read the script, I was laughing so hard,” echoes Tara Reid, who stars as Fin’s wife, April Wexler. “It was like, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ It was the silliest movie I have ever read.” And that was before the LOL-worthy title even happened. “Originally, Ian and I signed on when it was called Dark Skies,” Reid reveals. “Then in the first week of filming they changed the name to Sharknado, and we were both like, ‘Nooo! You can’t call it that!’ But they said to trust them, and it turns out Syfy, Anthony and the producers knew what they were doing.”

Initially, the ratings for the first airing of Sharknado “were good but not great,” recalls Syfy’s Chris Regina, the senior vice president of program strategy who oversees the network’s original movies. But a groundswell of online attention proved there was definitely blood in the water. The key was simply baiting more viewers. “So we added additional airings because of the buzz we were getting, and it exploded.”

Riding the tide of those encore presentations and the WTF fascination of social media (even Mia Farrow live-tweeted), Ferrante’s “little TV movie” suddenly became the biggest splash of that summer, leading to theatrical showings, late-night talk-show jokes, and the kind of media hype usually reserved for feature-film epics. “The first movie had very little marketing. They treated it like the regular Syfy TV movie, and there is nothing wrong with that,” Ferrante says. “Then it began gaining traction, and it blew up on the re-airings, it blew up Twitter. The thing that’s wonderful about the first Sharknado is that people found us; we didn’t force people to watch it. That is what makes it special.”

It’s also what made 2014’s sequel a no-brainer. “We had all the ingredients that we knew had made the movie a success,” offers Regina, adding that recapturing TV’s weirdest lightning in a bottle meant mixing more juice into the recipe. Sharknado 2: The Second One boasted a bigger budget, better effects and a move to the Big Apple, where the newly reunited Fin and April battled both another storm and monster expectations. Wisely, Syfy went hard with the marketing, complete with a branded presence at Comic-Con in San Diego, which helped turn last summer’s brilliantly absurd follow-up into the network’s most-watched original movie ever, with 3.9 million viewers. And again, jaws hit the ground as fast as the film’s exploding shark parts. “I thought we’d maybe get close to the numbers we did on the first one,” admits Ferrante. “I didn’t expect this to blow up a second time. Now, to be sitting here two and a half years after we shot the first movie with a TV Guide Magazine cover and a third movie where we have spanned multiple states? It’s pretty incredible.”

For Oh Hell No!, the whole gang—Ferrante, Ziering, Reid and the trilogy’s screenwriter, Thunder Levin—reconvened on the East Coast for a shoot that lasted less than three weeks, and this time, the forecast called for more madness than ever. “When we were developing this one, people were saying that they weren’t sure how we could top the second one. It was so jam-packed with stuff,” Ferrante says. “And I would say I don’t know how we can top this one. There are literally ideas for four Sharknado movies crammed into one film…and it works!”

Opening in Washington, D.C., with Fin preparing to receive the Medal of Freedom from the president (played by Mark Cuban, of Shark Tank, natch) for saving L.A. and New York, No. 3 benefited from being part of a national treasure in its own right. With the Sharknado brand so amusingly beloved, production was able to secure clearance to shoot all around the capital, lending a level of authenticity to the most unrealistic film since, well, No. 2. “We had access to some incredible places,” raves Ziering of filming at the Washington Monument and outside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. “When you’re part of a megahit, apparently people are happy to open their doors and work with you.”

Before you can say “Beltway,” however, Fin’s celebration with the commander in chief turns cataclysmic after a massive new sharknado develops over the city, triggering a sequence Ferrante calls “White House Down with sharks—the metaphor there is that they’re terrorists,” he explains, giddily recounting how this bit allowed for a dose of amped-up, military-style action. “This story gave us a chance to have a gun-toting president, and Ian has a machine gun. It gave us the opportunity to do something we haven’t done before in these movies.”

Another first for the franchise is filming in multiple locales. With the entire Eastern seaboard under attack by sharknado cells (damn you, global warming!), Oh Hell No! goes on a road trip as Fin races to Florida, where the now-pregnant April; their daughter, Claudia (Ryan Newman); and April’s mom, May (Bo Derek), are celebrating Claudia’s 18th birthday. As with Washington, Ferrante and company were granted carte blanche to shoot extensively at Universal Studios, Orlando. Yes, there are sharks in the park.

“Sharknadoes tend to follow us everywhere, if you haven’t noticed,” laughs Reid, whose character now sports what Ziering jokingly calls a “go-go gadget” prosthetic, having lost her hand to a midair shark attack in The Second One. “So it makes perfect sense that another one would start where my husband is, then come to me!”

Just as in the previous outings, this wild ride is filled with blood and guts and goofy deaths. “We do a little more evisceration in this one,” previews Ferrante. “There is a great, amazing kill that is prolonged and agonizing for the character. But it’s really cool. We do some horrible things to the victims.”

There’s also a flood of celebrity cameos, including retired L.A. Laker Rick Fox, Playboy models Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson, magicians Penn and Teller, NYSNC-er Chris Kirkpatrick, WWE star Chris Jericho and talk-show host Jerry Springer. Along the way, Malcolm in the Middle’s Frankie Muniz turns up as a storm chaser working with the original film’s Nova Clarke (Cassie Scerbo, reprising her role), and, in keeping with the franchise’s family-first theme, slow-motion beach icon David Hasselhoff surfaces as Fin’s father, Gil, a former astronaut whose NASA connections could help save the world. How, exactly, we can’t even begin to explain.

“[The whole thing] is tongue-in-cheek!” Ziering says, as if anyone needs reminding that the fate of mankind is in the hands of a Baywatcher and a teen idol turned Chippendale. “It is preposterous. There are sharks in tornadoes! It’s so far-fetched, you can only suspend disbelief to enjoy it.”

And that is exactly why we love this series so much and why everyone from Syfy to Ferrante to the stars are banking on endless summers of sharknadoes. “So much of the film is a social experience with the fans, and that really helps educate us,” Regina says of gauging the potential for a fourth movie. “I have an idea of where we can go in the next movie, but they could be demanding something else after this that could change my mind.”

One mind that won’t be swayed is Ziering’s. He’s hooked, wherever the next one may be headed. “I would love to be a part of this project for many years to come,” the actor says. “It’s entertainment, and I’m having fun at the same time. So why get off a boat that isn’t sinking?”

Hmmm…Sharknado at sea? Oh, hell yes!

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! airs Wednesday, July 22, 9/8c, Syfy

Ray Donovan Returns: Can the Fixer Be Fixed?

Even when Liev Schreiber isn’t playing the title role in Ray Donovan—a cold, brooding, slay-for-pay Hollywood “fixer”—he looks like he’s about to beat the crap out of you. The man can’t help it. He’s just made that way, with his wide, glowering, don’t-mess-with-me puss and a 6-foot-3 alpha-dog body that seems impenetrable and unstoppable. Right now, on the set of the Showtime series at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, that fearsome Schreiberocity is on full display as the actor hunts for director Dan Attias to discuss a problem with the script. Oh, Schreiber has no gripe with the writing itself; just that there’s too much of it.

The scene giving him agita has Ray returning home to his family, having distanced himself for quite some time from wife Abby (Paula Malcomson) and kids Conor (Devon Bagby) and Bridget (Kerris Dorsey). It’s quickly apparent that Ray hasn’t been missed. In fact, he’s been replaced. His older brother, Terry (Eddie Marsan), has moved in and become surrogate husband and father, and for once, there’s a bit of much-needed bliss in the Donovan household. Schreiber wants Ray to react silently, rather than verbally, to this startling domestic shift, and he asks Attias if he can cut some of his lines. After a few minutes of debate, Attias says he wants the scene played as written. For a moment, Schreiber seems ready to push the issue, but he suddenly retreats from the disagreement with a good-natured shrug, mumbling, “Well, it was worth a shot” to no one in particular. And then he begins to sing…softly, sweetly.

“Don’t cry out loud. Just keep it inside, learn how to hide your feelings.”

Nearby crew members glance at one another and are not quite sure how to react, so they don’t. This clearly is no everyday happening. Schreiber continues his song, with growing poignancy and bravado.

“Fly high and proud! And if you should fall, remember you almost had it aaaalllll!”

He nearly, but not quite, hits the final note and is greeted with more puzzled silence. “What’s that song from?” he asks. No one knows.

“Les Miz?” someone finally offers meekly.

“No, I mean who sang it?” Schreiber asks. “Was it Debby Boone? I’ve had that song playing in my head since Season 1 and can’t make it stop.”

With good reason. “Don’t Cry Out Loud”—which, for the record, was a major hit back in the ’70s for Melissa Manchester—could be Ray’s personal theme song. After all, the emotionally constipated ruffian and chronic philanderer never met a feeling he couldn’t stuff deep down into the darkest recesses of his twisted, Irish Catholic psyche. As a child, Ray was sexually abused—along with his younger brother, Bunchy (Dash Mihok)—by the family priest back home in South Boston, a trauma that still haunts them and has robbed Ray of any ability to feel intimacy. And the hits just keep coming: At the end of last season, Ray’s lover Kate (Vinessa Shaw) was killed by his trusted right-hand man, Avi (Steven Bauer), in a whack job ordered by Ray’s boss and father figure, attorney Ezra Goldman (Elliott Gould). Worse yet, Ray found out Abby was having an affair with a young, handsome LAPD detective. Now there’s hell to pay.

When Season 3 begins, several months have passed. “Ray has cut himself off from his family and the people he works with,” Schreiber says. “He can’t forgive Abby. He can’t forgive Avi and Ezra. And he still can’t forgive his dad, Mickey [Jon Voight], for abandoning the family all those years ago, which opened the door to the pedophile priest. In Ray’s mind, his entire world has transgressed against him and he’s holding everyone accountable.”

Ray once earned top dollar protecting Ezra’s celebrity clients—covering up their scandals and burying their skeletons (sometimes literally)—but he’s now working freelance, picking up scraps whenever he can. “Ray no longer wants to be cleaning up after people who don’t deserve it,” Schreiber says. “He’s done being treated like a second-class citizen, like a thug. He’s looking to legitimize himself and climb the social ladder.”

That opportunity comes when Ray is offered a full-time gig handling crises for the filthy-rich Finney family and their many entertainment holdings. The clan’s oily patriarch, Andrew (Ian McShane), is getting ready to step down as CEO and will appoint as successor either his feckless son, Casey (Guy Burnet), who runs the Finneys’ movie studio, or his ruthless daughter, Paige (Katie Holmes), who heads their sports agency.

“There’s no doubt Paige is more equipped and powerful,” says executive producer and showrunner David Hollander. “But Andrew has an emotional connection to his son that he doesn’t have with his daughter. He’s impressed by Paige but loves Casey.” The elder Finney is also aware that Paige will go to any lengths—however disgusting and illegal—to get what she wants, and he fears she’s a threat to him. This has Ray caught between protecting Andrew’s secrets and helping Paige achieve her lofty, and potentially lucrative, goal of acquiring an NFL team and bringing it to L.A.

“Nothing intimidates Paige,” says Holmes, who drew inspiration for her badass character—a juicy change of pace from her many sweetheart roles—by studying Faye Dunaway’s Oscar-winning turn as a cutthroat TV executive in Network. “Paige is hugely ambitious and can handle herself in any situation, but she does have cracks. Over time, you’ll see why she’s so alone and why she’s so willing to do inappropriate things. Some people are going to think she’s crazy, and,” Holmes adds with a laugh, “I might be one of them.”

This being Ray Donovan, lustful sparks will fly between fixer and fixee, of course. “At first, Paige is resentful and untrusting of Ray,” Holmes says. “He’s a stranger, and the Finneys always have people trying to take advantage of them. But she starts to see how she can use Ray to her advantage and that they are very similar. They are both lost souls. He’s exciting to her.”

Life for the other Donovans is no less wild this season. Shy, sexually dysfunctional Bunchy will get his mojo going when he falls for a wrestler-dominatrix (Alyssa Diaz), and Terry starts out behind bars after being nabbed in a botched robbery. “Terry’s Parkinson’s disease is worsening now that he’s without proper medical care, and he’s angered a bunch of Aryan Nations inmates who want him dead,” Marsan says. “But he’d rather remain in prison than be sprung by Ray and be dependent on him. If Terry survives, he’ll be in a wheelchair within two years. He wants it all to end.”

Mickey, meanwhile, is living off his racetrack winnings in a hooker-infested apartment complex in the San Fernando Valley. He takes a shine to one of the working gals (Fairuza Balk) and often babysits her young daughter (Shree Crooks), a not-so-talented showbiz wannabe up for the role of Shirley Temple in a movie biopic. Before long, Mickey is feeling downright fatherly and decides to become a pimp, with a little cocaine business on the side.

“No one’s going to take care of Mickey, and being a criminal just comes natural to him,” says Voight. “He’s envious of Ray because the guy seems to have so much power. Mickey needs to show his son that he can make it, that he can be an important person.” Of course, Voight concedes, “Mickey is always stepping in s–t. He has big dreams but never much success, which is apparent to everyone but himself.”

Then there’s Abby, who will beg Ray for absolution—and get nowhere. “Ray is such a hypocrite, screwing women left and right,” says Malcomson. “But he doesn’t fall in love with them. Ray may be emotionally and physically distant, but he’s not going to leave Abby, certainly not while the kids are still in the house.”

However, Abby will leave Ray this season, at least temporarily, when she tries to reconnect with her former self. “She goes home to her Southie roots in Boston and checks back in with her family, which is quite a circus,” Malcomson says. “It’s a chance to see who Abby really is, as opposed to the lonely, frustrated woman who is out of her element in Hollywood.” We meet her brother and sister and an old boyfriend, as well as her father, who is “vile and unnecessarily cruel, a real d–k,” Malcomson says. “You understand why she escaped that situation and married Ray, whose protective manliness and mythic bravery is very appealing to her. But, let’s face it, Ray’s also been a f—ing curse.”

She gets no argument from her leading man, who readily admits to the hypocrisy charge. “Ray is very primitive that way,” Schreiber says. “He lives by an arcane code of masculinity, where men are expected to cheat but women can’t, which is ridiculous and laughable. And, like a lot of victims of abuse, he’s extremely self-indulgent, very in his own world.”

But the guy’s not all bad. “As a father, Ray always provides. In fact, I’d even call him a good father when he’s not juggling that with being a homicidal maniac,” says Schreiber, who is expecting his longtime partner, actress Naomi Watts, and their two young sons, Sasha and Sam, to drop by the set and hang with him at lunch. “I empathize greatly with Ray’s commitment to his children and find it beautiful,” he says. “As much as I love being on this series, it’s very hard for me to be working right now when the kids are out of school and I could be with them. I just wish someone would hire me for a family movie so that my legacy is more than a series of dark, angry men. My kids have never seen my work.”

If it’s any consolation, the Oscar-winning Voight thinks Schreiber is a star for the ages. “Liev reminds me of the great old-time movie idols—Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas—the kind of tough, grounded guys you could count on to rise to the occasion and get the job done, the kind they don’t make anymore,” Voight says. “Hey, if I was in a jam, I’d hire Liev!”

Schreiber is flattered by the compliment, but he’s not buying it. “I guess I’m good in a pinch, like if there’s an accident on the road and you need help, but I’m really pretty scatterbrained,” he says. “I’m not focused ororganized or calm, composed and confident like Ray. Hell, half the time, I can’t even find my glasses.”

Ray Donovan returns Sunday, July 12, 9/8c, Showtime.

Binge Guide: The Best Reasons to Stay Indoors This Summer

Ready, set, binge! This week’s issue of TV Guide Magazine features these must-see series to catch up on this summer:

The Americans (39 episodes, available on Amazon and iTunes)
Bloodline (13 episodes, available on Netflix)
Broad City (20 episodes, available on Amazon, Hulu and iTunes)
Empire (12 episodes, available on Amazon, Fox.com, Hulu and iTunes)
Fresh Off the Boat (13 episodes, available on Amazon, Hulu and iTunes)
Hannibal (29 episodes, available on Amazon and iTunes; current season: NBC.com)
The 100 (29 episodes, available on Amazon and iTunes)
Longmire (33 episodes, available on Amazon, iTunes and Netflix)
Marvel’s Daredevil (13 episodes, available on Netflix)
Orange is the New Black (40 episodes, available on Netflix)
Other Space (8 episodes, available on Yahoo! Screen)
Outlander (16 episodes, availble on Amazon, iTunes and Starz.com)
Transparent (10 episodes, available on Amazon)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (13 episodes, available on Netflix)
Vikings (29 episodes, available on Amazon and iTunes)
Younger (12 episodes, available on Amazon, iTunes and TVLand.com)

These 5 shows land in our Bingeworthy Hall of Fame:

Friday Night Lights (76 episodes, available on Amazon, iTunes and Netflix)
Fringe (100 episodes, available on Amazon, iTunes and Netflix)
Justified (78 episodes, available on Amazon and iTunes)
Melrose Place (226 episodes, available on available on Amazon, Hulu, iTunes and Netflix)
Parks and Recreation (125 episodes, available on Amazon, Hulu, iTunes and Netflix)

And here are 4 foreign shows that shouldn’t be lost in translation):

The Fall (11 episodes, available on Netflix)
A Place to Call Home (23 episodes, available on Acorn)
Please Like Me (16 episodes, available on Amazon and iTunes)
The Wrong Mans (10 episodes, available on Hulu)

Dwayne Johnson Rocks TV in the New HBO Sports Comedy Ballers

No one lives up to a nickname quite like Dwayne Johnson. It’s a quiet May afternoon in a tranquil suburb outside Boston and all 6 feet, 5 inches and 260 pounds of the man most commonly known as “The Rock” have just returned to his house fresh from a midday training session. Still catching his breath from the taxing workout, Johnson strides in wearing a sweat-soaked gray hoodie and extends his arm for a firm handshake while flashing his famous pearly-white smile before quickly excusing himself to change. “I put my Elvis shirt on for you,” his voice booms throughout the cavernous hallways as he reemerges, proudly puffing out his chest to display a bright yellow shirt with an image of the legendary king of rock ’n’ roll.

These days, it’s easy to crown the 43-year-old Johnson the king of the pop-culture landscape. After spending eight years as arguably the most recognizable face on the World Wrestling Entertainment roster, he made the move to acting with 2001’s The Mummy Returns. Since then, he has been unstoppable at the box office, headlining 2002’s The Scorpion King, appearing in the last three installments of the Fast and the Furious franchise, and starring in this summer’s disaster flick San Andreas.

On June 21, Johnson cooks up his first series-regular television gig on the new HBO comedy Ballers. He plays Spencer Strasmore, a retired NFL all-star linebacker beginning a new chapter as a financial adviser. “I’ve had an opportunity to play some cool characters, but this role truly became a wish-fulfillment scenario for me, because I always dreamed of having that life,” Johnson says as he cracks open two juice bottles and settles onto the white couch in his living room.

Johnson started his own football career as a high school freshman in Hawaii. Just before junior year, his family moved to Pennsylvania, and he spent the next two seasons becoming a dominant force in the game. Upon graduation, he was recruited by many of the top college programs in the country and ultimately settled on the University of Miami, where he helped his team to a national championship in 1991. But during Johnson’s senior year, a back injury and four knee surgeries sidelined him from the action. After being passed over in the NFL draft, he played in the Canadian Football League for two months before he was cut and moved back into his parents’ apartment. “We were broke during all of my teens, but if I became a professional football player, I could buy my parents a house,” Johnson says. “Football was everything, so when it was done, it was sobering and devastating.”

In 1996, he decided to follow in the steps of his father and grandfather and became a pro wrestler under the name Rocky Maivia. Thanks to his signature arched eyebrow and spirited catchphrases (e.g.,“Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?”), Johnson quickly became a fan favorite, landing a total of 17 championships during his tenure. It didn’t take long for Hollywood to come calling.

Johnson likens his Ballers character’s transition from sports to business to his own from wrestling to acting. “When you get into a world like Hollywood, the odds are that you won’t make it,” Johnson says. “When I got into acting at 29, I started applying myself with no formal training. I had to rely on my gut as a performer. I trusted my instincts, and I never forgot that.”

Spencer uses the same moxie to navigate the decadent Miami playground of nightclubs and luxury yachts as he builds up a sports division for his new firm, Anderson Financial. He uses his nice-guy reputation within the football community to build trust with current players, including Ricky (John David Washington, son of Denzel), a veteran wide receiver whose off-field antics got him cut from the Green Bay Packers but who now has a second chance to prove himself on the Dolphins. When it comes to managing the egos and finances of these athletes, Spencer considers himself their, well, rock. “That’s a good pun!” Johnson says with a laugh. “The interesting thing that happens to a lot of us is we, at times, are better at helping others than helping ourselves, and you’ll see Spencer have flashes of success and brilliance while wrestling with demons. Another pun!”

Ballers comes from executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson, two of the creative minds behind the long-running HBO comedy Entourage, whose DNA is apparent throughout Ballers—think high rollers, scantily clad women, extravagant parties, and overall dudeness. “But Ballers’ tone is still its own thing,” insists Levinson, who credits pilot director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) for infusing a fresh energy into the storytelling. “Plus, Dwayne has tremendous range and can tap into the drama of Spencer’s life and then effortlessly shift into playing the comedy that is [that world].”

Johnson’s comedic abilities come as no surprise to TV viewers. Earlier this year, he went head-to-head with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon on the premiere of Spike’s wildly popular Lip Sync Battle, bringing the house down with a performance of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive.” And in March, he returned to NBC’s Saturday Night Live for his fourth stint as host, reprising his Hulk-inspired presidential spoof “The Rock Obama.” “I love performing live,” Johnson says. “I’ll sing, I’ll dance, whatever. I just want to knock it out of the park.”

He often does—even off screen. “Regardless of what your taste is, everybody likes The Rock,” says Rob Corddry (Childrens Hospital), who plays Spencer’s wisecracking boss, Joe. “When you meet him, he lives up to that sterling reputation in that his heart is as big as his chest, and I think it comes back to him in terms of success. He gives love and gets it back.”

But Ballers is not all fun and games. The series hits on a number of issues plaguing the league today, including players’ legal troubles off the field and, in Spencer’s storyline specifically, concussions and the lasting damage experienced by a growing number of former NFLers. Johnson says addressing these issues was paramount for the preservation of the show’s authenticity. “We are aware there are two sides to every story,” he says. “So we wanted to be fair to the league, but, more importantly, we want to be fair to the players.” Johnson, who also serves as an executive producer, had conversations with the NFL about its portrayal. “They were hesitant at first, as they should be,” Johnson says. “But once they started seeing the parties involved in the project, it eased some tension. They saw that there would be a level of respect shown.”

And many current NFL superstars came ready to play. Just as Entourage attracted Hollywood A-listers for guest cameos, the first season of Ballers has lined up a roster of pro athletes, including Steelers Pro Bowler Antonio Brown, Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson, and Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz. “I spent a lot of time with Cruz,” says Corddry, whose personal obsession with fantasy football was written into his character. “He was my No. 1 wide receiver on two of my fantasy teams until he got hurt, but I didn’t want to be one of those fantasy guys who was like, ‘Come on, man, you didn’t score me enough points!’”

Helping to keep things real behind the scenes is Rashard Mendenhall, the promising former Steelers and Cardinals running back who shocked the sports world in 2014 when he announced his retirement at the age of 26 to pursue his true passion: screenwriting. “He knows about being in the locker room and winning in a way that, frankly, none of us do,” Johnson says. “He also brings the unique perspective of a guy who was on top and then quietly retired. That psychology of walking away from millions of dollars—this guy could be really f—ed up. But no, he’s satisfied, happy, and proud that he did it.”

When it comes to his own career decisions, Johnson, too, is extremely proud. In addition to sports, film, and TV, he’s formed production company 7 Bucks Entertainment (named for the amount of money he had in his pockets after being cut by the CFL), which has developed a number of projects, including the TNT reality series The Hero and Wake Up Call. “There’s still somehow a stigma in Hollywood that if you’re a movie star, you shouldn’t do television,” Johnson says. “But that rule is silly. Quality is the mandate. You’ve got to swing for the fences to be great, but if we strike out, at least we’ll go to sleep knowing we gave it our all.”

So does this guy ever rest? Johnson reveals that he gets enough for a guy who is constantly jet-setting around the globe, acting, producing, and maintaining one of the most prolific celebrity social-media presences today. (On May 21, he broke the world record for most selfies taken in three minutes after posing for 105 photos with fans at the London premiere of San Andreas. The next day, he surprised a superfan by officiating at his wedding.) “I do what I can to maintain the legend that I am a machine,” says Johnson, once again flashing that signature smile. “They say, ‘He doesn’t sleep! He sends out crazy f–ing messages at 3am! He’s talking to his cardio machines!’ My schedule is pretty hectic, but I get by with about five or six hours’ sleep.”

Keeping him extra busy this summer: shooting Central Intelligence, a new action-comedy movie with Kevin Hart. But Ballers remains Johnson’s most personal project to date, in more ways than one. “You get to see some parts of me that you’ve never seen before,” Johnson teases. Since the series is broadcast on a premium cable network, Johnson fans can expect a number of very racy sex scenes, one of which was interrupted by a faulty fire alarm during filming. “Look, I hit it so good that I set off alarms,” Johnson says with a laugh. “Talk about something that just feeds the ego. They call me The Rock for a reason!”