After teasing the possibility recently, Dwayne Johnson has confirmed that he will indeed be playing pulp hero Doc Savage in writer/director Shane Black’s planned big screen adaptation.
As someone who has read a good majority of the original run of 181 Doc Savage pulp novels, I have to say that while excited, Johnson’s remarks have given me a moment’s pause. I am not sure that I would agree with his description of Doc as a “weirdo.” Socially awkward, yes, and there is definitely some humor to be found in that awkwardness. I wouldn’t call it “amazingly hilarious.” But right now my biggest concern is whether Johnson has the acting chops to capture Doc’s intelligence and charisma. It’s a different kind of tone that we’ve usually seen from him and I hope he can pull it off. It’s a tricky balance. If Johnson and Black don’t hit right I don’t think we’ll be in territory as disastrous as Denise Richards-as-a-nuclear-scientist-in-a-Bond-film, but it could hurt the film if Doc doesn’t hit the right note.
Black has been working on the screenplay for some time now, so I am raising an eyebrow over Johnson’s remarks that they’re breaking the story for the film now. This groundwork should have been done a while ago, unless they’re restructuring the script to fit it more to Johnson’s screen persona. And again, that would make me nervous for this film.
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