Young Rock: Inside Matthew Willig’s larger-than-life portrayal of Andre the Giant

For as perfectly as everyone has played their respective roles on Season 2 of NBC’s Young Rock, no one has captured their character quite like Matthew Willig has with Andre the Giant.

Both seasons of the show do an exceptional job of telling the life story of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson throughout different periods of his childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Willig portrays Andre at every stage and looks the part to a tee.

The Eighth Wonder of the World, as he was nicknamed during his days as a WWF Superstar, was a pop culture icon known across the globe by wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans alike. He also starred in 1987’s The Princess Bride as Fezzik prior to his passing six years later.

Meanwhile, Willig’s acting credits include Concussion (2015), Year One (2009), and We’re the Millers (2013), among many other movie and television roles.

At six-foot-eight with the extensive acting background he’s had in the last decade-plus, Willig was a natural fit for Andre. However, it didn’t come easy for the football-player-turned-actor, who spent an ample amount of time finetuning the accent.

Young Rock’s Matthew Willing on playing Andre the Giant

“That wasn’t an easy thing to work on, and it was tough,” Willig said. “When I got back to Australia for season 2, not having done it too much audibly, I was nervous on that first day. ‘Am I going to sound the same?’ I fell into it pretty quickly. It’s one thing to have a French accent, but Andre was very adept at mumbling his words and it’s always interesting to do a take or a scene on camera and look over and say, ‘Was that audible enough?’”

Before reprising his role as Andre for the show’s second season, Willig went back and watched as many videos, interviews, and documentaries about the inaugural WWE Hall of Famer as possible to ensure he could still nail the unique French accent. This was in addition to him talking to his daughters in “Andre speak” as he called it.

He recalls finding his footing again fairly quickly, including in the ring. He had plenty of praise for WWE alum Chavo Guerrero for working with him on that aspect of the character as well as with everyone else.

Willig walked away from his first day of training with bruises on his back, confirming that there are no stunt doubles on set. Thankfully, Andre was far from a high-flier and thus mirroring his move-set wasn’t too much of a tall task.

“There’s always an adjustment,” he said. “Wrestling is its own entity. My background is being an athlete, so that sort of training comes into play… Andre wasn’t flying around and going off the ropes. His moves were simple, strong, and slapping, those kinds of things, so that’s always easy to get back into.”

Willig’s breakout episode last season was alongside young Dewey (Adrian Groulx) in “My Day with Andre”. Season 2 replicated that episode with “Kiss and Release”, which aired this past week and focused on Andre giving a lovestruck Dewey romance advice.

The overwhelming positive feedback Willig has received from fans of the show and from wrestling has not been lost on him. Producers and directors telling him he was in the right lane was helpful as well and eased his nerves about doing right by the larger-than-life spectacle.

He feels the attention to detail and realistic portrayals of the characters and wrestlers are the show’s strong suit.

“I’ve been really, really fortunate,” he said. “There have been some people through social media who have really been kind, people who had known of him back in the day and seen him wrestle. No one specifically I can say that you might know, but it goes back to being on set and saying, ‘Holy crap, Kevin Makley, you are epitomizing Macho Man.’

“I take it seriously,” Willig continued. “When you’re playing someone iconic like this, it’s important. I’m going to put my own spin on it. I’m going to do the best I can for my physicality, but gaining the weight that I did in between the season gave me the look and feel that I need to have that Andre essence.”

Willig’s eating habits to prepare for the role mostly consisted of him consuming as much as possible, usually around midnight. In addition to his obvious size, he felt his actual experiences living life as a larger man allowed him to relate to Andre and feel a closer connection to the character.

“I’m six-foot-eight in real life and just getting on planes [is uncomfortable],” he said. “There are times where I’m not in first class and for me, just sitting in a regular seat is… the bottom line is that getting into cars and Ubers, I feel it. The little things like that. Sitting in restaurants and having a bad booth or a bad seat. They all add up to the same feeling, not to the extent a seven-footer might have, but definitely.”

There were times where Willig woke up feeling the wrestling bumps he took the day prior and legitimately had trouble walking, much like Andre would after a match. One of the producers picked up on it and told him he strongly resembled Andre in that moment.

Football took a toll on Willig’s body for as long as he played which is why he’s grateful for the career he has now in acting. He’s still able to make a difference, entertain the masses and inspire people while only enduring a sliver of the physicality.

Making it on his own in two wildly different worlds and never taking “no” for an answer, along with always asking himself “Why not me?” when expanding his horizons as an actor and refusing to be typecast, is what he’s most proud of.

“There are times where I’m doing something 30 times on the set and it’s almost as bad as hitting someone on the field, but it’s just using a different part of my brain,” Willig said. “It’s like going from a right-brain mentality to more of an artistic brain mentality and just using that part. You talk about CTE and things going on with football players and how they’re struggling with that post-career. The ability for me to use my brain and keep it active and study and reading lines are all helping me.

“I’ve been acting now longer than I played football,” he continued. “When you’re talking about a 14-year-long football career, that’s saying something. It’s hard sometimes to really take self stock in what you’re doing and pat yourself on the back as you’re doing things, but when I take a second and realize that I’m playing Andre the Giant on an NBC TV series about Dwayne Johnson, it is mind-boggling to think where I was 15 years ago with that football sort of mindset. To have fans know me from both and have people say, ‘I didn’t know you were a football player,’ or, ‘You’re acting now?’ is crazy. It’s a crazy sort of world that doesn’t mix at all and there are fans of both worlds who don’t realize I’m doing the other. It’s really cool.”

New episodes of Young Rock air every Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.