Dwayne Johnson teases upcoming 'Hobbs & Shaw 2', says they've got 'great characters' to create for the sequel
The world might be in a state of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Hollywood is determined to be positive and look ahead. Well, Dwayne Johnson is one of them, and the actor revealed in a Facebook live that he's working on the sequel to the 'Fast & Furious' spin-off and said that they've got 'great characters' to create for the sequel to the 2019 film 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw'.
In the video, Johnson spoke a lot about not getting the role of Jack Reacher and how it led to bigger things. He also briefly mentioned an update on 'Hobbs & Shaw 2'.
"We have great characters to create, not the characters that Hobbs can kick the shit out of, but characters I think you'll fall in love with - villains, heroes, and anti-heroes," Johnson said.
Johnson had made similar comments in a Q & A session in March. In the chat, he had confirmed that the film was indeed in development, though a director and shooting dates had not been decided yet. "We are developing now the next film, the next [Hobbs & Shaw] movie, and I'm pretty excited about it," Johnson said [We] just gotta figure out the creative right now, and the direction we're going to go."
This does bring some good news for fans who have all been disappointed with the delay in film releases, due to the pandemic. 'Fast & Furious 9' saw its release date being pushed back by an entire year. The film will now hit the theatres in 2021, which is a long time to wait for the franchise.
'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw' chronicled the life of the characters Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, played by Johnson and Jason Statham, respectively. While both were initially antagonists to Vin Diesel's Dom, they eventually became allies in 'Fate of the Furious'. The film made nearly $760 million globally following its debut last August.
Speaking about how he lost 'Jack Reacher' to Tom Cruise, Johnson said, "In Hollywood, actors are kind of like in-a-box. There are actors that can vie for a particular role because it allows for them to have a certain look, skin color, size, etc. Fortunately, for me, there aren’t a lot of guys at all who look like me. So, all of my roles, from the beginning of my career, I’ve been a lucky son of a b***h that they’ve been created and designed for me — except Jack Reacher.”
"Now, this was ten years ago, and I was in a much different place, I recognize that,” explained Johnson, “Tom was the biggest movie star in the world, and I was not.”
Johnson believed that he was fit to play Reacher, due to his physical similarities to the character in height (6′ 4″), weight (280 lbs) and they both were ‘bad dudes’.
"I got the call saying ‘Hey, you didn’t get the role’ Look, I didn’t even know if I had a shot for it, but the people around me at that time made me think that I did. I felt like I did, I felt like ‘Why not me?'” he continued in the FB video.
Yet there's always a silver lining, and soon Johnson received a phone call from Universal to make a cameo in Fast Five.
"I said ‘Don’t worry about the money’, I’m doing alright right now,'” Johnson remembered, “In success, if I create a character the people are going to like and it hits the zeitgeist of the culture in a cool way, the money is going to be there. They said, ‘Absolutely, it’s a deal’.”
And soon, Johnson became synonymous with Hobbs. "I’m positive that the role of Jack Reacher, because it was an established character, an IP that was well known and beloved around the world, that I wouldn’t have had the creative space to do what I wanted with the character,” said Johnson, “I look back in gratitude that I didn’t get Jack Reacher," he added.