Dwayne Johnson says his career took off after saying 'f--- all this' to old leading-man stereotypes

"I became acutely aware of the power of being authentic and being real," the actor tells EW in an exclusive interview.

This is the part where Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson breaks free.

"As I was pushing my career forward — doing my best to push my career forward — there were moments of doubt," the pro-wrestler–turned–Hollywood-A-lister tells Entertainment Weekly in an exclusive interview, in which he talks about the mid-career gamble that led to his runaway success.

The advice he was getting at that time was, "'If you wanna be a leading man, you're too big; you can't go to the gym, you have to lose weight, you gotta go on a diet,'" Johnson says. "And if you don't know any better, then you buy into it, so I started to question myself then. Some of those films at the time I was making, I think, reflect that. And then a moment came where I said, 'Excuse my language but f--- that, I'm not doing this anymore, I'm gonna do myself. And if I fail, then I can fail being me.'"

Johnson explains that this critical juncture came when he first got in Hollywood, "I was coming off cresting WWF at that time — not even 'WWE.' I hosted Saturday Night Live, we pulled great ratings. I made The Scorpion King. I made Walking Tall." When he "finally decided to quietly retire from professional wrestling" and focus on acting full-time, he was then presented with the decision to stay true to his own standards or chase others.

"A funny thing happened when I said, 'Ah, f--- all this': career went like this," Johnson says, pointing up. "I became acutely aware of the power of being authentic and being real."

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Johnson's gamble certainly paid off. He's maintained a remarkably consistent career since his debut in the early 2000s while remaining as jacked as ever. Many of his roles still revolve around his musculature and size, but he's accomplished feats like anchoring his own solo film for DC Entertainment (Black Adam), securing a producer credit on some of his most profitable films, and inking development deals with major studios like Netflix.

"The doubts I have these days are a little bit different," Johnson continues. "History is always watching our decisions, and the decisions we make today, they're going to affect our kids. Even though they're not in a creative meeting with us, it's going to affect them down the road."

Related: Dwayne Johnson sings Moana's 'You're Welcome' for 4-year-old's Make-A-Wish request

He's currently looking forward to two major releases; the latest Jake Kasdan action-comedy for Netflix, Red One, and the sequel to Disney's 2016 smash hit Moana.

Johnson told EW that in Moana 2, his demigod character Maui "can do whatever he wants, have whatever he wants, live the life, but it's all stripped away in this one moment. He can either continue to live life how he lives, or he can strip it all away and say, 'I really need help'.... It's an important moment for people to see that you can be strong, you can be big, you can be independent, but it's okay to ask for help."