Hercules just seems like a role that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was born to play, and he'd probably agree with that sentiment.
When MTV News' Josh Horowitz spoke with the professional wrestler-turned-actor about his new film, "Snitch," the subject of his upcoming projects, including the recently confirmed, Brett Ratner-directed "Hercules," came up in conversation.
Johnson spoke enthusiastically about the prospect of the film, which is what he'll film next. "We have some movies getting ready to come out, but the next shoot, I'm really excited about, a passion project I've had now on my mind ever since I got into Hollywood, over 15 years now, 'Hercules.' I can't wait," he said. "We're going to shoot that in Croatia and Budapest. I've been preparing for this role now for the good part of a year."
Aside from discussing the filming locations, Johnson confirmed that Ratner is still on-board, and he also expanded on what the mythological hero has meant to him.
"Understand, for me when I was a kid, Hercules was always a hero of mine, from Steve Reeves to the multiple guys who have played Hercules, but the idea and the notion of this man," he said. "When I first got into movies, I thought, 'Gosh, I would love to do that one day.' I always thought that the version of Hercules that I want to play was one that was more dramatic and survived in barren lands and not necessarily slick in any way or anything like that. It's been around and been on my mind for some time."
But not all of Johnson's projects have come together like "Hercules." An adaptation of "Lobo" was supposedly in the works with Johnson attached, but he says that has disappeared. "It was for a minute, but then it kind of just went away as things happen in Hollywood," he said. "For a minute, [I] was interested in it, and then it went away."