Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson says his wrestling competitors were like "pussycats" compared to the silverback gorillas he came into contact with making 'Rampage'.
Dwayne Johnson
The WWE legend-turned-actor stars as primatologist Davis Okoye in the creature feature - which is based on Midway's 1986 monster-packed video game of the same name - and he says his past ring rivals, including Triple H, Vince McMahon and Steve Austin, have nothing on the mammoth-sized apes.
Asked on UK TV show 'This Morning' if the gorillas were scarier than them, he laughed: "I have played with some great ones in the ring over the years.
"The Hulk Hogan's of the world... they are like little pussycats compared to real-life silverbacks, there's no comparison."
Johnson's alter ego must save America from a giant gorilla, mammoth wolf and gargantuan crocodile, who have all grown to enormous sizes due to a form of genetic mutation.
Director Brad Peyton previously said the 'San Andreas' star - known as The Rock during his wrestling career - had all the qualities needed to carry an action-packed blockbuster because he makes it seem like he could actually save the world from such fantastical threats.
He said: "He's larger than life, in real life. I don't quite totally understand it, but when he does things, you just believe it. I deal with this, as a filmmaker, where I'll see a line written and be like, 'I don't know about that.' And then, he'll do it, and I'm like, 'Damn, that is movie star charisma!' I think it's that. He has this fearlessness and self-belief, mixed with more charisma than 400 normal people taped together. He just has that thing, so when he fully devotes himself to an idea, you go, 'Yeah, of course he could save the world!' I try to support that with good storytelling, emotion and rationalisation, as to how someone could do all this stuff, but it's amazing how much people just want to believe it. People want to get on the ride with Dwayne."