Dwayne Johnson says The Rock’s legendary heel turn inspired Black Adam

polygon.com:

The way Dwayne Johnson puts it, bringing Black Adam to the big screen was a fight, from the beginning to the end. And one he couldn’t have done without the help of his heel-ready wrestling persona, The Rock.

The origins of Black Adam go back nearly as far as The Rock’s stint in the WWE, which ended on a third heel turn tinged by Hollywood fame. In 2007, Johnson began talks with New Line Cinema over a proposed Shazam movie. At that point, the wrestler turned actor had The Scorpion King, The Rundown, and the more family-friendly Gridiron Gang under his belt, and the film, which would tell the story of both Shazam (aka Captain Marvel) and Black Adam, was conceived to have a lighter tone under the eye of comedy director Peter Segal (would go on to work with Johnson on Get Smart). Johnson was reportedly courted to play the Shazam character, but saw more potential in Black Adam. But the movie would languish in Development Hell for a decade. Johnson says the version we’re getting this October is “not at all” like the original plans for the character.

“The movie that was finally delivered after years and years of deliberation, of conversation, of fighting, was Shazam and Black Adam, in one movie, trying to tell both origin stories within 100 minutes,” Johnson tells Polygon. “And it felt like it was just thrown together. It didn’t feel like it had the priority and respect that both characters and both origin stories needed.”

Johnson says that despite all the back and forth, a script for the dual-lead film was only finished six or seven years ago. The draft prompted him to call Warner Bros. executives and challenge the entire notion of the project.

“I said, ‘I think we really have to go in another direction. I think we should