Just when you thought Dwayne Johnson couldn't possibly squeeze another movie into his already packed schedule, he's muscled space and time apart and is making room for sonething, albeit one that'll be in the works for a while. Johnson is on board to star in King for director Robert Zemeckis.
Based on a spec script written by Braveheart's Randall Wallace after a request by the star, King will see Johnson playing Hawaiian ruler Kamehameha. In case you're thinking Kame-who-a?, he's the legendary king who was the first to unite the warring Hawaiian Islands, which fulfilled the prophecy that surrounded his fabled life since birth. He took control of Hawaii’s destiny, and gave the islanders leverage in advancing the culture in trading with the foreign ships from Europe that began showing up on the shores of islands that must have seemed like paradise, albeit a sometimes dangerous one as explorers like Simon Metcalfe and Captain James Cook discovered before Kamehameha forcibly unified the islands.
Playing this role is a dream Johnson has since his career, and he's finally getting his shot, sending the script to Zemeckis, who signed on. That combination of actor, writer and director triggered a bidding war for the potential project, won by Warner Bros. and New Line, which will produce it alongside Johnson's Seven Bucks company and regular collaborator Beau Flynn.
Johnson has more recently been working on Jungle Cruise, and will shortly kick off filming on Fast & Furious franchise spin-off Hobbs And Shaw. On his To-Do list are Red Notice with Skyscraper's Rawson Marshall Thurber, a sequel to Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and DC movie Black Adam, among others.
Keep up to date with all the latest movie news, click here to subscribe to Empire on Great Magazines and have the latest issue delivered to your door every month.