If it seems like Dwayne Johnson is attached to a new film almost every other day, that's probably because he is. And he's a workaholic, who has probably lifted more weight today than many of us manage in a week. His latest announcement, though, confirms what had been rumoured and talked about for a while: he's attached to star in Doc Savage for co-writer/director Shane Black.
The Iron Man 3 director has made no secret of the fact that he thinks Johnson is right for the lead in the film, and now Johnson has hit Instagram with a picture (see below) of Black and his co-writers Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry sitting with Johnson and production partner Hiram Garcia to, in The Rock's words, "chop up creative and break story on this very cool project. Comic book fans around the world know that the cool thing about 'Doc' Savage is that he's the inspiration for Superman. First name Clark, called "Man of Bronze", retreats to his 'Fortress of Solitude' in the Arctic etc etc." Plus there this: "Here's the #1 reason I'm excited to become Doc Savage.. HE'S A F*CKING HILARIOUS WEIRDO!" Quite.
Black has been aboard the project since at least 2009, looking to adapt the iconic pulp character into a new big screen form. Raised from birth by scientists to be the perfect hero, Savage boasted a staggering number of skills, including scientist, inventor, physician and explorer. Among the most popular characters in 1930s and 40s pulps, Savage's stories were chronicled in nearly 200 novels and across radio, film and TV. Author Lester Dent was his most prolific writer, and it’s his books that Black and his team have been working from.
Given Johnson's hectic schedule, there are no details on when this might happen, but at least we know it's properly in the works. Black's latest, The Nice Guys, is out on Friday (find our review here) and we'll have a Podcast special interview with the director alongside producer Joel Silver up soon.