The King | Dwayne Johnson

[lime]

Ah...that piece of wood Dwayne Johnson is going to ruin this movie.

 

[samsnee]

Sigh... so people are complaining a true Hawaiian should play this role. Ok, name me one Hawaiian actor that a studio is willing to spend tens of millions of dollars on that can open a movie to decent box office domestically and has worldwide appeal?

Some Hawaiians Are Wary of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Playing King Kamehameha

"I love Dwayne Johnson and some of his films, but he's such a comedian. I hope this is not going to be a comedy and the character is not a comic character," Vicky Holt Takamine told Hawaii News Now.

Others, like Lilikala Kameeleihiwa—senior professor at the University of Hawaii’s Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies—said this casting choice reflects previous Hollywood efforts to appropriate the native history.

“Kamehameha is a grand chief of Hawaii and not some Hollywood Disney character,” she said. “It is totally inappropriate to have a non-Hawaiian actor play him. There must be a hundred descendants of Kamehameha who could play the part. If ever a film should be made (about Kamehameha), it should be written, in Hawaiian, by one of Kamehameha’s descendants. It’s their kuleana.”

 

[Aximili86]

Jesus Christ, these people again huh?

Screw it, Dwayne, you're out. I want Johansson in the role now, for giggles.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

The Rock & high concept fantasy epics hasn't been a winning combination. Hercules didn't do well in the domestic BO (it did decent OS but nothing to write home about). Scorpion King did 0k but a good deal of it can be attributed to the time during which it released i.e, it was the golden age of epic fantasy movies (LOTR, HP, POTC, Narnia).

But Dwayne's international pull has grown manifold since Hercules (2014). He has a lot of clout in foreign markets after San Andreas, Rampage, Jumanji 2 & the F&F franchise. Jungle Cruise & Red Notice will increase his fanbase even more. High concept fantasies have a hard time breaking out in today's BO climate so getting a globally recognized face is a good starting point to make the project commercially viable.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

The Rock & high concept fantasy epics hasn't been a winning combination. Hercules didn't do well in the domestic BO (it did decent OS but nothing to write home about). Scorpion King did 0k but a good deal of it can be attributed to the time during which it released i.e, it was the golden age of epic fantasy movies (LOTR, HP, POTC, Narnia).

But Dwayne's international pull has grown manifold since Hercules (2014). He has a lot of clout in foreign markets after San Andreas, Rampage, Jumanji 2 & the F&F franchise. Jungle Cruise & Red Notice will increase his fanbase even more. High concept fantasies have a hard time breaking out in today's BO climate so getting a globally recognized face is a good starting point to make the project commercially viable.

I don't think this is a fantasy film.

If I am remembering it right I even think Kamehameha received artillery from the British Navy which he used on the battlefield.

 

[Aximili86]

Haha, totally forgot he did that Hercules movie. Eep.

Still, Zemeckis here, don't think we need to worry about...the Hercules movie as far as precedent for Johnson.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I don't think this is a fantasy film.

Yeah, my bad. I should have said historical period drama/period piece drama

From the DHD article:

Kamehameha is the legendary king who was the first to unite the warring Hawaiian islands, which fulfilled the prophecy that surrounded his fabled life since birth. He took control of Hawaii’s destiny, and gave the islanders leverage in advancing the culture in trading with the foreign ships from Europe that began showing up on the shores of islands that must have seemed like paradise, albeit a sometimes dangerous one as explorers like Simon Metcalfe and Captain James Cook discovered before Kamehameha forcibly unified the islands.