National Ledger:
HER BIGGEST FAN: Madison Pettis — Dwayne ”The Rock” Johnson’s delightfully ingenuous 9-year-old co-star in the Disney comedy, ”The Game Plan,” opening Sept. 28 — says she was more excited about landing her first movie audition than the chance to work with the champion wrestler-cum-film star. ”They had me audition with Dwayne twice,” recalls Pettis, ”and when I first saw him I thought, ‘He’s kind of big and tall.’ I’ve never seen his movies because they’re all PG-13 and R, so he wasn’t like a big celebrity to me. He’s just like a normal guy to me.’‘ In ”Game Plan” The Rock plays an NFL football star/swinging bachelor who discovers he has a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. ”All of my scenes are with Dwayne,” says Pettis, who’s also a regular on The Disney Channel’s ”Cory in the House.” ”He always called me ‘honey,’ ever since I first met him. He’d say, ‘You’re doing such a great job, honey.’ He was sweet even back then.”

Pettis believes ”The Game Plan” was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. In fact, she says, ”Dwayne’s going to be on a ‘Cory in the House’ episode on Sept. 21. He’s a special guest star playing himself on our show and ‘Hannah Montana’ on the same night.” The young actress, who plays the president’s daughter, Sophie Martinez, in ”Cory in the House,” says the troupe has only shot about 10 episodes of the scheduled 30 for the second season premiering in November, so she’ll be working straight through April.

• Dwayne gets in on the Game
• USA picks up ‘Game Plan’