Yesterday, through his Twitter account, wrestler, actor and all-round lovable man-mountain Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson announced that he is in the running to play DC anti-hero Lobo in an upcoming movie adaptation, confirming earlier rumors.
‘Rumors of me possibly playing Lobo are true. Joel Silver and Brad Peyton working on it now. That could be fun.’
Stress needs to be placed on ‘possibly’ and ‘working on it’ though, as both those terms suggest that none of this is set in stone and, as the film does not even have a release date set, it may not even materialise at all.
Talks of a Lobo movie have been on-going for a while, with Guy Ritchie being announced to direct one in 2009 before leaving the project to work on the Sherlock Holmes‘ sequel.
If the film does happen, Johnson will be playing a violent, motorcycle riding alien bounty-hunter, which actually kind of fits him. DC needs a new big franchise now that Nolan is walking away from Batman, so the hope is that The Rock can deliver on Lobo. The studio does have Man Of Steel cooking up but still, if they’re to compete with Marvel’s movie-verse, they need more.
The Rock is a fine actor in my opinion. He could have been this decades’ Schwarzenegger, with his impressive physique and easy charm, but he has never quite managed to reach those heights due to poor movie choices.
I’m all for a film that gives Johnson a shot at a successful franchise, and here’s hoping that it all works out. I think he has proven himself completely and it’s about time he got to play a superhero.