It sounds like the tagline for a public service ad, but Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson believes in it: "Every kid deserves a second chance."

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars "Gridiron Gang." Click photo for larger image. Related articles 'Gridiron Gang' NFL Films covers out-of-town Steelers fans Listen In: PG's Barbara Vancheri chats with The Rock about football, life and the his new film "Gridiron Gang": What sports can mean beyond the playing fields. Talks about Sean Porter who he portrays in the movie. Talking with teenagers at the juvenile detention center about having a second chance in life. Working with living actors and not a green screen. Three things to take away from "Gridiron Gang." Which movie role brought him to fame. Next up: Plays an NFL quarterback, Elvis style

Talking by phone from Philadelphia during a recent publicity stop, he says, "I got that second chance. I'm a living example of that second chance." He wants moviegoers who see "Gridiron Gang" to understand that and the power of sports and of expectation.

"Gridiron Gang," based on a 1993 documentary of the same name, dramatizes the real-life story of probation officer Sean Porter (played by The Rock) and the teen criminals he molded into a football team.

"These kids had Sean Porter telling them, 'I expect better from you,' and that's very powerful because a lot of these kids, they come from a world of neglect and failure and they don't have people in their lives saying, 'I expect better from you.'

"And when kids like that are challenged, they react in the way that these kids did, and I liken it to my own life when, between my arresting officer, I had a great coach in high school and loving parents -- specifically my mom who said, 'I expect better from you' -- that's powerful."

Before the age of 14, The Rock had been arrested eight times for offenses such as fighting, theft and assault. His arresting officer directed him to a freshman football program and a star was born, in high school and the University of Miami.

After a serious back injury and a stab at the Canadian Football League, he became a professional wrestler and later broke into movies, bringing a commanding physical presence to features such as "The Mummy Returns," "Scorpion King" and "Walking Tall."

His career took a turn with "Be Cool," the 2005 sequel to "Get Shorty" in which he played a gay bodyguard alongside John Travolta, Vince Vaughn and Harvey Keitel. "Charming and unexpectedly funny, The Rock wears his muscles and his role lightly," The New York Times wrote.

"It was after that, that I started receiving a lot of good material and a lot of comedy, not action comedy that required physicality but comedy."

"Gridiron Gang" allows him to occasionally flash a warm smile, but it's a straight dramatic role without the green screen -- a sort of blank canvas for later special effects -- used for "Scorpion King" or last year's "Doom."

"It makes it easier when you're reacting to somebody, and it makes it harder when you're portraying somebody who's alive. And the kid actors are portraying real kids who are alive and some dead, and their families are watching intensely to see how their sons are being portrayed in the movie. Compared to a green screen, it's heaven."

The actor didn't meet Porter until two weeks into shooting, but he studied him in the source documentary and spoke to him on the phone and to those who knew him.

"He's a tough guy, an intense guy, and a loving and caring guy. He's a husband and a father. ... He understands with these kids, you've got to be tough on them. Like he says in the documentary, they've never worked harder for anything. Hard, period, for anything, and you have to take that approach with them."

Porter, now a probation camp director in Valencia, Calif., told The Rock two things: "I want you to tell this story and I want you to showcase this world, the world that I live in and the world these kids come from, how it is. It's dark and it's not pretty and it's violent."

The real games involving Camp Kilpatrick could be dangerous affairs, with fights, stabbings and beatings. As an epilogue shows, some of the players made it on the outside and some did not.

Nevertheless, Porter wanted the film to end on a positive note, because that's what he teaches and strives for.

"Gridiron Gang" is the latest in a never-ending string of movies ("Invincible," "The Longest Yard," "Friday Night Lights") to use football as a backdrop. What is it about football that bonds the players and often transforms them?

"I honestly feel it's not just football, and I love football and I've played a lot of football with great players on great teams," he says. "It still is basketball and it's baseball and it's soccer and it is football and it's all those sports out there," which get kids off the streets and force them to channel their intensity in a team environment.

He ticks off a list of positives: "learning how to commit yourself to a goal, sacrificing yourself for the greater good of the team, failing at a goal, dealing with that and subsequently succeeding and being gracious with your success. All those things, I think, are not only invaluable but intoxicating, too, to a lot of people."

"Gridiron" was shot at the actual Camp Kilpatrick, a youth probation camp in California's Santa Monica Mountains. The Rock, co-star Xzibit (a rapper and "Pimp My Ride" host), director Phil Joanou and the producers regularly talked to the teens and arranged a tutorial in filmmaking.

The Rock told the juvenile prisoners he could easily have been locked up, just like them. "Listen, I know you're getting preached to every day," just as he was once preached to, he said. But he wanted them to remember that while they had made mistakes, they were going to get a second chance once they got out. "Don't screw it up. Be smart about the decisions you're going to make."

The Rock is about to start shooting another football movie, "The Game Plan," scheduled for a 2007 release. It's a comedy in which he plays a Super Bowl-bound quarterback who discovers he has a young daughter from a previous relationship. He's a bachelor who likes to sing Elvis tunes and drives a McLaren.

"No motorcycle driving like Ben Roethlisberger." With or without a helmet.