10 More Movie Roles Obviously Designed For Other Actors
9. The Rock As Everyone - The One
If you thought that the weird 2000’s CGI Dwayne Johnson from his early forays into The Mummy franchise was bad, he picked that series over a movie that was so critically derided it might’ve stopped his movie career before it started.
2001’s The One is a sci-fi action film that is special effects heavy and also completely absurd. Dealing with multiple universes, Jet Li plays ten different variations of the same character and is not only the protagonist but also the antagonist. However, the film wasn’t originally designed for him, not by a long-shot.
The script was originally titled “The Rock Movie”, which really says it all and yes it was fully intended that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would go from WWE into a movie where he plays nearly a dozen variations of himself. Reportedly, early CGI of the fight between good guy Rock and bad guy Rock was even worked on before he passed on the project and moved on to The Mummy Returns.
Unfortunately, in doing so, we missed out on Johnson and Jason Statham appearing on screen together in the early '00s, years before they were united in Hobbs & Shaw.
Eventually, the film was retitled “The One” and Jet Li did his best to save a movie that was doomed to a critical lambasting.