How ‘The Rock’ ended up playing a role written for Tommy Lee Jones: “He shined in it”
Now that Hulk Hogan has shuffled off to the hallowed squared circle in the sky, it could well be argued that the greatest living wrestler is none other than Dwayne Johnson, AKA ‘The Rock’.
Although the likes of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and John Cena might have something to say about it, and no doubt would scrap it out until it was decided, The Rock had charisma like nobody had seen before when he made his WWE debut in 1996.
Just last year, he was voted “the most iconic WWE wrestler” in an online survey by 2K Games. It’s fair to say the guy has some presence.
But, of course, The Rock didn’t stay in the ring for too long, or rather, not just in the ring. After a couple of years laying the smackdown to all and sundry, he was snapped up by Hollywood and made his big screen debut in 2001’s The Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser. In it, he played the Scorpion King, a role he took on so convincingly that it bagged him a spin-off movie the following year, which, while not hugely successful, was enough to have him be considered a genuine action star that studios could bank on.
It was something the pro-wrestler cleverly used to his advantage as he temporarily returned to the wrestling ring, rebranded as the arrogant, big-time ‘Hollywood Rock’, beating ‘Stone Cold’ to become the WWE Champion. He spent the next decade or so starring in passable action movies like 2004’s vigilante remake Walking Tall and continuing to appear in the WWE, but it was in 2011, when he signed on to the Fast and Furious franchise, that things went stratospheric.
By then, what had originally begun as a movie all about the world of street racing with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious had morphed into something completely different, with far-fetched storylines involving the FBI and world terrorists and assorted action stars popping up to shoot people. Johnson made his debut in the fifth instalment, Fast Five, as Luke Hobbs, a security service agent who doesn’t play by the rules, pitched against the similarly muscle-bound and shaved-head star, Vin Diesel.
The change of direction proved to be a huge hit, with Fast Five becoming the most successful movie of the series and cementing Johnson as an integral cast member for another ten years. But as Diesel, who was a producer on the film, revealed, the role of Hobbs very nearly went to an entirely different actor.
He told fans of the series, “Back in the fifth film, when I was asking, ‘Who should I work with?’ the reason why we brought Dwayne Johnson into Fast Five was because of you (the fans). There was a girl named Jen Kelly who said, ‘I would love to see you guys work together onscreen’, and so we gave a role that was initially written for Tommy Lee Jones to Dwayne, and he shined in it.”
It proved to be a very wise decision, as the next two movies, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7, were astronomical hits, grossing more than $2billion and launching not just another four movies, but also a spin-off involving ‘The Rock’: 2019’s Hobbs and Shaw with Jason Statham.
In the last five years or so, the actor has continued to straddle Hollywood, with not just action films but voice work for the likes of Disney’s Moana and DC League of Superpets and sports agent TV show Ballers. He currently has some 13 new projects in development, including a remake of the 1980s Kurt Russell classic, Big Trouble in Little China.
