Dwayne Johnson will play the title role in the Sony Pictures adaptation of Doc Savage. Shane Black will direct the movie from a script he co-wrote with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry.
Black had made it clear while promoting his film The Nice Guys that he wanted Johnson for Doc Savage, and the San Andreas (2015) actor made it official on social media on Monday. Johnson also announced that he would also produce the film through his Seven Bucks Productions banner along with Hiram Garcia.
Dwayne Johnson took to Facebook to announce that he would play the “world’s first superhero.” He posted: “For all comic book fans you already know the world’s first superhero (pre-dating Superman) is the ‘Man of Bronze’ himself Clark ‘Doc’ Savage...the cool thing about ‘Doc’ Savage is that he’s the inspiration for Superman.”
The story is about Clark Savage Jr, a doctor, inventor and explorer who possesses superheroic levels of intelligence and strength. The actor went on to describe his character, saying, “he has zero social graces whatsoever due to his upbringing so every interaction he has with someone is direct, odd, often uncomfortable and amazingly hilarious.”
The character originally appeared in 1993 in The Doc Savage Magazine and was eventually adapted into radio dramas, comic books and movies. However, Doc Savage, a part of DC Comics’ First Wave line of books, hasn’t anchored a film since 1975’s Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze, and Dwayne Johnson can’t wait to revive the character.
“I can see why the creator of Superman took only the best parts of Doc Savage and the ‘weirdo’ part behind. But to us, it’s that ‘weirdo’ part that makes Clark ‘Doc’ Savage dope...” he posted.