Hercules To Be Played By Dwayne Johnson In New Brett Ratner Film
As a child of Disney, I will remain forever infatuated with the older Disney animated films, especially the old ‘Hercules’ cartoon. Hollywood, however, has recently decided to move in on that sacred ground and now Dwayne Johnson – The Rock – is set to star as the titular hero in Brett Ratner’s new spin on the ancient Greek son of Zeus. Of course, they aren’t remaking the old Disney version – instead they’re adapting a series of Hercules comic books from Radical Comics, akin to Frank Miller’s 300 comics.
Over the last few years, filmmakers have been pouncing on every opportunity to make a movie based on Ancient Greek myth. We’ve seen ‘300’ and it soon-to-be quasi-sequel, ‘Clash of the Titans’ and its sequel ‘Wrath of the Titans’, ‘Immortals’, ‘Troy’, ‘Alexander’, and even ‘Percy Jackson & The Olympians’. Needless to say, Greek mythology is a hot topic in the world of film. So what can we expect from Ratner’s version of Hercules? Well, the casting says it all.
I don’t know about anyone else, but taking Johnson seriously as an actor has never been a doable thing for me. With a portfolio of ‘Race to Witch Mountain’, ‘Tooth Fairy’, ‘Doom’, and ‘Fast Five’, it’s almost a laughable notion to expect a dark, serious role from Johnson that would come from the upcoming ‘Hercules’. A basic plot summary of the comic the movie is going to be based off of was listed on ComingSoon, saying:
Fourteen-hundred years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules, powerful son of the god king Zeus, received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding his only solace in bloody battle.
But then, we’ve all seen Johnson play the role of borderline-God before in ‘The Scorpion King’. He handled swords, fired arrows, and did everything he’ll probably do as Greek hero Hercules as an Egyptian hero. It would seem as though he’s just moving countries West. No word yet on which other actors might be playing which other characters in the upcoming film, but you can catch Mr. Johnson in the new G.I. Joe film ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ when it’s released March 29th, 2013.
