The creation of Luke Hobbs: Dwayne Johnson's dream role was 6' 5" Jack Reacher, but 5' 7" Tom Cruise bagged it
In an alternate version, the world would have seen Dwayne Johnson play Jack Reacher instead of Tom Cruise in the titular film based on Lee Child's novel character.
The quarantine has seen Johnson interact with his fans on Instagram and one of the questions he received was "Was there a movie role you really wanted but lost to another actor?" And the 'Jumanji' star promptly replied: "Yup"
And the response, which was uploaded as a caption read: "The role was Jack Reacher. The actor was Tom Cruise. Business is business and I'm happy he got it. The universe works in funny ways though, as when that door shut on me, another door opened with the opportunity to create a character from scratch that was of my DNA. The one and only badass, s**t talkin', gravity, and reality-defying, always winkin' and having fun OUTLAW LAWMAN KNOWN AS LUKE HOBBS. Let the good times roll. Thanks for all your great questions and enjoy your holiday weekend. Most importantly, stay healthy my friends. D"
Needless to say, 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw' was a major box office hit, especially in terms of raking in the moolah. The spin-off of the 'Fast & Furious' franchise raked in over $760 million worldwide and opened to positive reviews from fans and critics.
On the other hand, 'Jack Reacher' and 'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back' had a decent run with $218.3 million and $162.1 million. While they did surpass the production budget, both installments still fall short when compared to 'Hobbs & Shaw'.
Johnson's Luke Hobbs was one of the new characters introduced in the 'Fast & Furious' movies and he has been an integral part of the 'Fast & Furious' franchise since then.
He came into the picture as a former Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent and was tasked with apprehending Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) for the death of four DEA agents in Rio.
In the next two movies, he enlists Toretto's team to help capture Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) and follows it up by assisting the team to take down his brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham).
The eighth installment, 'The Fate of the Furious', saw him team up reluctantly with Deckard as they take on a cyber-terrorist named Cipher (Charlize Theron) as she attempts to trigger a nuclear war.
'Hobbs & Shaw' follows the unlikely pairing of the titular characters, Hobbs (Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as they team up with Shaw's sister (Vanessa Kirby) to battle a cybernetically-enhanced terrorist (Idris Elba) threatening the world with a deadly virus.
With the ending hinting at a potential sequel, we just might see Johnson return as Hobbs again soon.