The Robert Zemeckis movie stuck in development hell that could change Dwayne Johnson’s career
He might be one of the biggest and highest-paid stars in Hollywood, but Dwayne Johnson‘s career has been largely defined by playing it as safe as possible.
The former professional wrestler can almost exclusively be found in expensive and effects-heavy productions where he’s required to do little else than play variations of his established persona, and while it’s hard to argue with the profit margins, he hasn’t exactly been stretching himself.
It’s not a coincidence that the best acting of his time in the spotlight has come when he plays against type. Whether it’s as a scene-stealing bodyguard in Get Shorty sequel Be Cool, a drug-addled ex-con in Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, or a traumatised amnesiac in Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales.
His impending collaboration with Benny Safdie on A24’s biographical drama The Smashing Machine marks the first time in a long while Johnson has ventured outside of his wheelhouse. But one production that could add to that tally, a Robert Zemeckis epic no less, is still languishing in development hell. It has the potential to alter the perception of who ‘The Rock’ is as a performer to an even greater extent.
First announced in August 2018, the Academy Award-winning Forrest Gump director was revealed to be partnering with Johnson on The King, a project that would feature the Fast & Furious veteran as Kamehameha, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii who reigned from 1795 to 1819.
Kamehameha was the first to unite the Hawaiian islands following years of turmoil, fulfilling a prophecy that had been bestowed upon him since birth. As well as becoming its first monarch, he expanded and developed trade with outsiders, securing legendary status in the process.
The screenplay was written by Braveheart‘s Randall Wallace, but that’s about as far along the development process as it got. Johnson starring and producing in a passion project he’d wanted to make for two decades – not to mention one requiring a strictly dramatic performance that would test his range to its very limits – alongside a proven filmmaker like Zemeckis and working from a script penned by the scribe behind a ‘Best Picture’-winning historical epic is tantalising stuff, but more than half a decade on and there’s no sign of The King.
Johnson said that “from the day I began my Hollywood career, my dream was to bring this legacy to life,” but as of yet, it hasn’t materialised. Since The King was first announced, he’s starred in nine features and has several more on the way, including the aforementioned The Smashing Machine, the sequel to and live-action remake of Moana, another Fast & Furious spinoff, and festive action comedy Red One — all while the film he’s dreamed of making for 20 years remains firmly on the back burner.
That’s not to say Johnson would be a guaranteed ‘Best Actor’ contender at the Oscars were The King to finally escape development hell. But it would go a long way to showcasing new sides of his on-screen arsenal and signalling to the moviegoing public that there’s always been an immensely dedicated thespian waiting to break out from under the biceps and by-the-numbers actioners. It’s one movie with the potential to pivot his career into a brand new direction.
