In this day and age, it’s hard to deny Dwayne Johnson’s status as one of Hollywood’s most formidable and ubiquitous superstars. In his post WWE career, his prolific work in film has steadily amounted to a refinement of the endearing “macho, lovable action hero with an exaggerated level of skill and avid devotion to family” archetype. And Johnson hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. He’s currently set to appear in four films in 2019, and now he has excitedly announced he will be playing folklore hero John Henry in an upcoming Netflix film called John Henry and the Statesmen. Variety reported that the film is based on a pitch developed by Hiram Garcia (president of production at Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s company, Seven Bucks) and screenwriter Tom Wheeler, whose credits include The Lego Ninjago Movie, Puss in Boots, and Netflix’s forthcoming TV series Cursed. The film will also reunite Johnson with his Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle director, Jake Kasdan. Watch a teaser for the project that Johnson posted to Instagram along with a passionate pitch below. Details about John Henry and the Statesmen remain scant, but based on reports and Johnson’s Instagram post, it’s clear the story will center on John Henry, a beloved and mythic figure in American folklore. As a steel-driver, John Henry hammered spikes into rocks surrounding train tracks to resist the emergence of steam-powered drills, which replaced the tireless work of railroad employees. The role requires sincerity, heart, and some extreme strength; it thus aligns with some of Johnson’s best performances: Luke Hobbs from The Fast and Furious franchise, Maui from Moana, and Beck from The Rundown. However, it’s worth mentioning that Johnson has received some warranted backlash for taking on the role. John Henry has become an important symbol for the African-American community, and he is typically portrayed as a dark-skinned black man. As a light-skinned, mixed-race man, Johnson hasn’t ever explicitly identified as black, which has prompted online discussion on the appropriateness of the casting decision (this sort of controversy isn’t new for The Rock either). Johnson, meanwhile, cites personal reasons for taking on the role without clearly mentioning race. He identified John Henry as one of his “childhood heroes” and claims he will “lead an ensemble of the most popular folklore figures and legends from different cultures around the world.” He recalls: “The legend of John Henry’s strength, endurance, dignity, and cultural pride was instilled in my DNA at a very young age. My dad would sing “Big John” to me every time he would put me to bed.” Based on this anecdote, Johnson upholds some emotional attachment to John Henry, and the film will be a personal project for the international star. While Johnson reliably plays the same goofy, uber-strong, and heroic family man to perfection, the quality of his films has vastly varied, especially of late. In the last two years, he has excelled in some hits (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Fate of the Furious) and underwhelmed in some misses (Skyscraper, Rampage, and Baywatch) But because Johnson speaks passionately of John Henry and the project, he will likely fully devote himself in properly rendering his “childhood hero.” This is a good sign: when Johnson strays away from generic comedies or lackluster action flicks and commits to more personal films — a la Moana and The Fast and Furious franchise — he proves his universal appeal for critics and audiences alike. Due to Johnson’s ardent enthusiasm in the project and his impressive track record with personal films, John Henry and the Statesman has some serious potential. The other creative faces behind John Henry and the Statesman also hint at the film’s potential success. As mentioned, Johnson and Kasdan are re-teaming after the surprise hit Jumanji, which grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide and cemented itself as one of Johnson’s most foreboding hits to date. Johnson and Kasdan’s joint efforts delivered one of 2017’s most crowd-pleasing, endearing films. Netflix head of film Scott Stuber notes: “He and Jake are a tremendous duo with a proven track record of entertaining audiences worldwide. We’re delighted to be able to partner with them and collaborate with Seven Bucks Productions and FPC. This is a story with universal appeal and we can’t wait to bring these characters to families around the globe.” Indeed, when considering Johnson and Kasdan’s previous international successes, John Henry and the Statesman carries indelible crowd-pleasing allure and has the ingredients to ascend to Hollywood blockbuster royalty. Netflix’s backing of John Henry and the Statesman after a “heated bidding war that attracted many of the major studios” all the more amplifies the filmmaking prowess backing the film. For the past few years, Netflix original films have not generated the same acclaim or attention as its television series (Stranger Things, BoJack Horseman, Bloodline, American Vandal, and Mindhunter). However, the streaming giant’s entries in the film industry have recently grown in stature. This summer, Netflix released a string of popular rom-coms — To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Set It Up, The Kissing Booth — which became online sensations. In addition to John Henry and the Statesman, Netflix has invested in some in costly Hollywood projects to enhance its prominence in the film industry. Michael Bay and Ryan Reynolds are currently filming the $150 million budgeted Six Underground for the streaming service. Netflix also just committed itself to the Steven Soderbergh-directed The Laundromat starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, and Antonio Banderas. Netflix original First Ladies, starring Jennifer Aniston and Tig Notaro, is currently in development, and Martin Scorsese just finished filming big-budgeted epic The Irishman for them. These films comprise a few of the countless forthcoming Netflix originals; it’s clear the service has enough expenditures to invest in these colossal, star-studded flicks and further obtain a more theatrical presence. Perhaps John Henry and the Statesman will provide Netflix with the momentum it needs to standardize film as it has with television. The release date and production schedule for John Henry and the Statesman remains unclear — at the moment, Johnson is filming the Fast and Furious spinoff Hobbs and Shaw, and Kasdan is in pre-production for the Jumanji sequel. It will likely be an arduous wait before we see if Netflix, Johnson, and Kasdan can deliver the potentials of John Henry and the Statesman. With the talented cast and crew behind the film, coupled with an accessible platform, it’s easy to foresee the film as a broad, family-friendly romp that will further solidify Johnson and Netflix’s powerful presence in our media landscape.<doc-sep>Universal Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is adding yet another giant role to his resume. He'll star in John Henry and the Statesmen for Netflix, he announced Tuesday. In the film, Johnson will lead a group of "the most popular folklore figures and legends from different cultures around the world." Johnson himself will work as a producer and also play steel-driving' man John Henry, who in the famed folk song defeated a steel-powered drill in a race that led to his death. In a Facebook post announcing the project, Johnson also remembered his father singing to him the 1960s Jimmy Dean hit, Big Bad John, about a similar heroic miner. "Gonna be a lot of fun bringing these legends to life," Johnson wrote. "My childhood hero. The steel driving man, JOHN HENRY. And his disruptive band of international folklore legends, THE STATESMEN." The film will be directed by Jake Kasdan, who worked with Johnson on 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. No release date was given. Johnson has to be crazy-busy. He has at least four movies in the works for 2019, including wrestling comedy Fighting With My Family; Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw; and Jungle Cruise, which is based on the Disney theme-park ride. Beyond that, he's starring in a 2020 film about Hawaiian King Kamehameha, and Red Notice, an action film with Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot. He's also been cast as DC comic book hero Black Adam, the nemesis of superhero Shazam, and will receive a solo film as that character sometime after the solo film Shazam, starring Zachary Levi, comes out in 2019. He's also starring in the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, set for a December 2019 release.<doc-sep>Historically, John Henry’s always been depicted as having a *very* dark skin complexion and while Dwayne Johnson is undeniably a black man, this is all quite 🧐🧐🧐. I’m legitimately curious who the target audience for this movie is meant to be.<doc-sep>
Photo : Photo by Jeff Spicer ( Getty Images ) Dwayne Johnson has a lane, and he’s rocked the hell out of it. Truth be told, it’s a lucrative lane: the affable action star has made good money off of, well, being an affable action star. But on Tuesday, with the announcement of his latest project, an adaptation of the African- American folk hero John Henry, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson committed one hell of a lane violation. As CBS News reports, the reception to Johnson, a light-skinned, mixed race man, playing an undeniably b lack- American folk legend was incredulous at best. Johnson’s heritage isn’t exactly a mystery—he comes from a storied wrestling lineage that includes the legendary Samoan wrestler Peter Maiva (his grandfather), and Dwayne’s father, Rocky Johnson. Dwayne Johnson himself has celebrated his father’s trailblazing career as a black wrestler who “broke color barriers” in the business. But acknowledging black heritage isn’t the same as identifying as a black man—and Johnson has never publicly done the latter. Even more pertinent, Johnson’s racial ambiguity has been a hallmark of many of his roles, which have rarely seen him explicitly portraying a black man (and to that end, being part of a black family). Which brings us to John Henry. Johnson has never been short on charisma, and certainly has the body type one would ascribe to the legend. But John Henry—the legendary steel-driving man who quite literally worked himself to death—is not an ambiguously black character. Nor has he been portrayed as such—many Twitter users noted that Henry was frequently portrayed as dark-skinned. Previous film adaptations of the legend starred Danny Glover (in the television series, Shelley Duvall’s Tall Tales and Legends) and Roger Aaron Brown (in the 1995 Disney film Tall Tale). And this doesn’t get into the cultural context of the John Henry legend, whom research suggests was based on a real railroad worker. According to one theory, the real-life John Henry was a former Union Soldier who was imprisoned for theft (likely, unlawfully) while working down South. “Henry” was leased, along with other inmates, to the brutal task of building railroads—a more accurate way to think of it would be de-facto slave labor. Knowing that framing deepens the resonance of the story, and frankly, any major adaptation deserves an acting and directing team that can mine that complexity. As it stands, the project will be directed by Johnson’s Jumanji director, Jake Kasdan. Yesterday, Twitter users floated actors like Spawn’s Michael Jai White, Luke Cage’s Mike Colter, and Black Panther’s Winston Duke as more suitable actors to play John Henry. Others said they wish the high-profile role would have gone to an unknown, rather than a man who can already command around $20 million for a film. Johnson’s own choice of words don’t provide much comfort that he knows the import of John Henry’s legend, specifically for a black audience. He shared news of the movie on his Instagram, where he hinted the movie would feature a collective of international folk heroes, with John Henry as the lead. “The legend of JOHN HENRY’S strength, endurance, dignity and cultural pride was instilled in my DNA at a very young age. My dad would sing ‘Big John’ to me every time he would put me to bed,” Johnson said. Nowhere in the post was the Henry’s blackness explicitly mentioned. The same held true for a statement Johnson gave to Variety about the project. Again, Johnson emphasized the cross-cultural and global appeal of the movie, losing any kind of specificity about John Henry’s legend itself: “Netflix is the perfect partner and platform for us to continue entertaining our global audience in a disruptive way,” Johnson said. “These diverse characters speak to a legacy of storytelling that is more relevant than ever and span across a worldwide audience regardless of age, gender, race, or geography.” There are plenty of things Johnson is a great fit for—movies about dinosaurs, movies about capers in jungles, movies with all matter of vehicles careening into various landscapes. But this ain’t it.