Dwayne Johnson sure has come a long way from his days as mineral-themed professional wrestler The Rock. While he’s managed to forge a successful career as a respectable dramatic actor with roles in films like The Other Guys and The Tooth Fairy, he has yet to break into what is surely his true calling: action movies. Now, though, that may be about to change.
As reported by Variety, Universal and Johnson are currently working out a deal that would see him starring in the studio’s The Janson Directive. In case that cool-yet-vague title doesn’t make it obvious, The Janson Directive is based on a book by Robert Ludlum, the writer of The Bourne Identity. If he gets the job, Johnson would star as the titular Janson, a former government-sanctioned assassin who quit to become a private contractor who could make sure the people he kills actually deserve it. The U.S. government is presumably not cool with that, but it would be nice to see those jerks play against type for once.
Variety says that unnamed sources believe Janson could be “a Jason Bourne-esque franchise for Johnson,” which is certainly a bold prediction, considering that the studio and Johnson obviously want it to be that. We’re just glad he might finally be getting a movie that is perfectly suited to his muscle-y tough guy persona. Other than every other movie he’s ever done, of course.