Dwayne Johnson has revealed that he has been working on 'Black Adam' since 2008.
Dwayne Johnson
The 'Jumanji: The Next Level' star will play the villain in the upcoming DC Extended Universe film, which is slated for release in 2021.
Johnson admits the years of preparation demonstrate his passion for the comic book project.
In an Instagram post, Dwayne said: "Black Adam has been with me for over ten years now. That gives you an idea of passionate I am about this project. How passionate our Seven Bucks (Johnson's production company) is about this project. Warner Bros., New Line Cinemas, DC, they have been so incredibly supportive over the years. 2008 was when we first started talking about this. So it has required patience by all of us as partners."
The 47-year-old former WWE wrestler admits that he has changed as an actor over the years and feels that it is the right time to make the film.
'The Rock' explained: "I'm a much different man and actor than I was ten years ago. Even then, ten years ago, I just wanted to wait for the timing to feel right. And it feels like now, the man that I've become, I'm able to bring a little bit of my own life lessons and engrain them in the DNA of this character."
Lawrence Sher serves as a cinematographer on the movie and previously suggested that 'Black Adam' could "reshape" the genre.
The 50-year-old - who worked on the acclaimed 'Joker' - said: "One of my interests about it is to continue to sort of - and we've talked about it with Dwayne and ... DC - can we continue to sort of reshape what a comic book movie is?
"Like yes of course you want it to be entertaining and it has to make a decent amount of money so it can't live in such a fringe place that it doesn't bring people in, but can we do something inventive?
"So that's the goal is to continue to try to do something a bit inventive with it."
The 'Black Adam' movie will lead to on-screen showdown with superhero Shazam as they are frequent foes in DC Comics stories.
'Shazam!' proved to be a hit when it was released in 2019, grossing $364 million at the worldwide box office.
A sequel is in the works with Zachary Levi back as the titular magical superhero. Warner Bros. has announced it will be released on 1 April, 2022.
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