The world of- specifically- American professional wrestling has a multitude of cross-overs with the lower end of Hollywood entertainment. Often garish, vulgar and exploitative, with cartoonish characters starring in an ongoing opera of good guys and bad guys that pander to the plebeian sensibilities of their demographics, sometimes it is hard to truly discern clear differences between the two industries. They both resolutely brandish their value expressly as entertainment, a word they use as synonym for both crass and vacuous. A wonder, then, that more of an exchange between the media of personnel has not been more frequent, nor more successful; but one man that has bridged the gap in the last decade has been
Dwayne The Rock Johnson, who has scored a number of box-office hits and has this week signed on for another potential blockbuster in
The Snitch, according to
The Hollywood Reporter. The action thriller will see him cast as the sort of everyman fighting against the system to free his wrongly imprisoned son in the sort of narrative American cinema goers love. The script has been penned by
Justin Haythe, who penned the melodrama adaptation of Revolutionary Road for DiCaprio/Mendes/Winslet, and this screenplay is currently being re-drafted by its director,
Ric Roman Waugh (Felon). The project has been a long time in development after originally being commissioned by Spitfire Pictures as a story to be based on an HBO documentary about changes in US drug law back in 2005. The film was delayed when Spitfire was taken over by Exclusive media group who have hired David Fanning and Gordon Gray to produce on the movie which whould begin shooting as early as May. Johnson, who made his name in the acting world through lead roles in The Scorpion King and Walking Tall, had looked to many as though he were tiring of the acting world, especially after re-joining the WWE to host this year's Wrestlemania. However with a whole host of films in the works, and the news that he is now signed on for this
David Fanning produced thriller, it now seems that audiences have not seen the end of The Rock on the silver screen.