Fresh off his turn as the larger-than-life Luke Hobbs in The Fate of the Furious – a performance that seemingly warranted a spinoff movie involving his former DEA agent and Deckard Shaw, the volatile loose cannon played by Jason Statham – Dwayne Johnson is already beginning to make headway on another project: Jungle Cruise.
With a script now in place – J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are the brains behind the latest draft – Johnson officially climbed on board the long-brewing Disney actioner three weeks ago, when it was revealed that the Mouse House is targeting a production start in the early stages of 2018. That means the search for a director to get behind the wheel of Jungle Cruise is well underway, and it seems that Dwayne Johnson already has someone in mind. As part of AP’s The Big Story (via Collider) on Patty Jenkins’ foray into the DC Extended Universe, the spread included an aside from Johnson, where the Hollywood superstar revealed his admiration for Jenkins, and why he considers her to be the perfect fit for Disney’s action-adventure romp.
Per AP:
Patty has that really cool edge … I felt like she could be a really cool choice for a movie like Jungle Cruise. Plus, you know what? I’m just a big fan.
Much like Pirates of the Caribbean before it, Jungle Cruise is one of Disneyland’s time-honored rides, one which “takes park-goers on a journey through a range of leafy settings such as Africa’s Nile and Congo rivers as well as South America’s Amazon.” It’s an elevator pitch that evokes memories of Dwayne Johnson’s experience on the Journey franchise, though the actor’s star power has ballooned since 2012 – and it looks like it’s only going in one direction. The big question now is, will Johnson be able to court Patty Jenkins on board? Time will tell.
Jungle Cruise is expected to pull into port (read: production) at some point in early 2018. Surely by that point we’ll know who Disney has chosen to direct, but we’ll keep you posted one way or the other.