The Rock has already proven he's no one-note wonder. In two nimble ''Saturday Night Live'' appearances, he showed off great gams in a drag skit and hit a high note, literally, crooning the ''Ice Castles'' theme, ''Through the Eyes of Love.'' Moreover, his April 13 stint boasted the show's biggest rating among 18- to 49-year-old viewers since September's season premiere.
Like his surprise 2000 bestselling memoir, ''The Rock Says...,'' Johnson's comic performance made a lot of industry types take notice. ''Dwayne has a long movie career ahead of him with all degrees of action-adventure and comedy,'' says ''Scorpion King'' producer Sean Daniel. ''He could absolutely do what Schwarzenegger did,'' adds Billy Hopkins, casting director for such romantic comedies as ''Kate & Leopold'' and ''Someone Like You.'' ''They should be looking right now for a vehicle where he can be funny. Think about ''Kindergarten Cop'' and ''Twins.''
Still, even admirers admit there are limits to his range as a performer. ''I wouldn't exactly cast him in the sequel to ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' right now,'' notes Hopkins. Guess that big-screen smackdown with Meryl Streep will just have to wait.
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Armstrong)
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