Dwayne Johnson Speaks Out on Early Cut of Black Adam: "Not Yet Satisfied"
We're less than a year away from the debut of Black Adam, a film that is poised to completely shake up the DC Comics universe as we know it. At the center of the blockbuster is star and producer Dwayne Johnson, who will be portraying the DC antihero after over a decade of wanting to play the role. After footage from the film made its debut at the DC FanDome virtual convention, fans are definitely eager to see more — and apparently, Johnson has a unique reaction to the film's current state. In a recent interview with Collider, Johnson shared his take on the current cut of Black Adam, indicating that while it is "in a really good place," he is "happy, yet not satisfied" with it, and wants it to be even better.
"I think we're in a really good place," Johnson explained. "I think now's the time where... we take our time, yet there has to be some expediency to it because we do have to have the movie ready by next summer. I think Jaume delivered a great first cut. And, you know, Black Adam is the kind of movie that, from [the] beginning, it had the makings and the bones to be something unique. It all started I think with the ambition, but then it all started with our director, Jaume Collet-Serra, and I think that he is an ambitious director. He, again, comes from that cadre of very talented Spanish filmmakers who want to get in and want to disrupt industry and disrupt craft, and he does it I think in such a great way. I also like that... At this point of the cut, there is a clear and defining anchor to Black Adam's code, and I think that's really important as we look to build out the character, as we look to build out the franchise, as we also look to build out the JSA and introduce them and launch them properly as well. I am happy, yet not satisfied, and we will continue to put the work in. And the teaser that we showed about three weeks ago, it was a good indicator of what's to come."
Producer Hiram Garcia recently spoke to Variety about the current cut, and about his excitement in introducing the character to mainstream audiences.
"We just saw the director's cut. I'm so excited," Garcia explained. "Look, you get into this business and you have dreams of stuff you want to make, but I've always wanted to make a superhero [movie]. All of us - me, Dany [Garcia], and DJ have had a dream of doing it. So to finally have our superhero movie and to see the first cut of it and realize that we've got something special here? I think the fans are going to love it, and I think with the piece we released at DC FanDome, we also showed everyone the tone we're playing in, where it's going to be fun, but Black Adam is a very different kind of antihero than what we're used to. He's very different from Shazam!, he's very different from Superman. If you cross him, a lot of people don't walk away from that. So that's fun for us, to have DJ playing a character like that which he typically hasn't played before. Look, I think you're going to love it. The movie's big and it's a lot of fun. But it's got a lot of edge to it, and I think the world is ready for that."
Black Adam is directed by Jungle Cruise's Jaume Collett-Serra, and will also feature Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fatte, and Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz. Uli Latukefu, Marwan Kenzari, Mohammed Amer, James Cusati-Moyer, and Bodhi Sabongui have also been cast in currently unknown roles.
Black Adam
is directed by Jungle Cruise's Jaume Collett-Serra, and will also feature Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fatte, and Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz. Uli Latukefu, Marwan Kenzari, Mohammed Amer, James Cusati-Moyer, and Bodhi Sabongui have also been cast in currently unknown roles.