During his ascent up the Hollywood ladder that saw him go from unproven quantity to the biggest star in the industry in little more than a decade, Dwayne Johnson attached himself to a number of projects that eventually faded away into the abyss of development hell.
That list includes, but is by no means limited to, sequels for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Baywatch, San Andreas and Rampage, Shane Black’s Doc Savage, literary adaptation The Janson Directive, a Big Trouble in Little China sequel, high concept actioner Seal Team 666, sci-fi action comedy Alpha Squad Seven, and Robert Zemeckis Kamehameha biopic The King.
However, throughout it all he’s remained committed to headlining Black Adam, and when the movie is finally released next summer it’ll coincide with the fifteenth anniversary of Johnson first outlining his intentions to play the title role. Having picked up and dropped all sorts of sequels, remakes, reboots, franchises and original properties in the interim, it’s clearly a passion project that means a great deal to the 49 year-old if he’s persevered with it for so long.
In a new interview, Seven Bucks President of Production Hiram Garcia admitted that Johnson was destined to play Teth-Adam, and they’ve stuck with it ever since despite The Rock boasting one of the most jam-packed schedules in all of Hollywood.
“We’ve always been very committed to what we wanted to build with Black Adam. Black Adam was the character we wanted to bring to life and who we felt DJ was destined to play. Once we set our sights on this character over a decade ago it was hard to imagine DJ playing anyone else.”
For the most part, Johnson doesn’t make movies for himself but for his fans, although Black Adam could prove to be an exception looking at how long he’s been circling the DC Comics blockbuster before finally suiting up and reporting for duty, and with plans for a multi-film series already in place, it won’t be the last time we see him as the character, either.