When Dwayne Johnson was first announced to be playing Black Adam in November 2007, both the project and the actor’s career were in a very different position from where they find themselves now. The former professional wrestler wasn’t even the star of his own movie, but he’d be the villain in Shazam! instead, which was set to be helmed by The Longest Yard and Get Smart director Peter Segal, with a script from John August.
At the time, The Rock’s Hollywood career was in its infancy, and he’d just come off the back of Richard Kelly’s infamous box office bomb Southland Tales, formulaic sports drama Gridiron Gang and dismal family comedy The Game Plan, a far cry to his status these days as the world’s biggest, most popular and most bankable motion picture attraction.
Finally, though, thirteen and a half years after he was confirmed for the role, Black Adam has started shooting. The DCEU blockbuster has been a long time coming, but director Jaume Collet-Serra called action yesterday, and Johnson celebrated the news by posting an image of the day one clapperboard, along with a caption praising the team behind the comic book fantasy, which you can check out below.
“History in the making, extremely excited and what a humbling moment to share with you. Officially kicking off day one of filming our Black Adam. Our Director and maestro, Jaume Collet-Serra. Our Academy Award nominee (Joker), Director of Photography, Lawrence Sher. We have an all star production crew – incredibly talented, galvanized, committed and focused to raise the bar and deliver something special for the world”
The leading man has been saying for a long time that Black Adam is set to change the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe, but he’s now raising the stakes even further by claiming that history is in the making. A mega budget cosmic superhero movie starring Dwayne Johnson in the lead is about as sure a thing as you can get in the industry these days, and the finished product will be flying into theaters around the world next summer on July 29th.
