UPDATE: The Rock himself has confirmed the news on his Twitter feed. Bring it!
Michael Bay has been talking about making crime comedy Pain And Gain every time he hits the press tour between Transformers films. Year after year, he says he’s going to shift gears and shoot it as a change from pumping out shots of giant robots smacking each other around as Shia LaBeouf looks on. But now it looks like he’s finally going to get around to it, and wants Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg to star.
Taking its basic plot from a 1999 Miami Times article about a true-life crime, Pain And Gain will focus on two Florida bodybuilders who become entangled in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme. Captain Americ****a duo Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wrote the first draft of the script, though it’s been in development for a while now and was first set up at Paramount back in 2001.
According to Variety, neither actor is anywhere near locked yet, with Johnson opening up talks and Wahlberg still dancing around the edges like a deer wondering whether to eat from someone’s hand. They’ve also both got busy schedules to consider: Johnson will need to set aside a block of time to make both new Fast & Furious films and Wahlberg’s got several cinematic suitors lining up to secure his affections, including action thriller** 2 Guns** and comedy Three Mississippi.
Bay wants to shoot the film this coming spring. Optimus Prime is not expected to cameo.