Dwayne Johnson Confirms Starring Role in Shane Black's DOC SAVAGE

Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys) has wanted to make a movie based on the pulp hero Doc Savage for a long time, and it sounds like he'll finally start rolling on that sometime next year. At one point Chris Hemsworth was being eyed for the title role — a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, and musician all in one, not unlike Buckaroo Banzai — but in recent months, Black has talked about how he now has his sights set on Dwayne Johnson as his potential star.

In an Instagram post yesterday, Johnson confirmed his involvement with the project:

Finding our anchor. When I'm shooting on location I always need a space where I can work and keep building the enterprise. Here in Georgia this has been my space for months now. Keepin' it country. Every film, TV show, partnership and project we develop gets handled from here. When I feel good about it, it goes in the pile to the left that clearly reflects my OCD. When I'm still making adjustments, it stays on the pile on the right. All contracts that need signing remain in the middle. On the iPad I'm reading an outline for a cool movie I'll make in 2017 (with director Shane Black) and when I get tired and need a lil' pick me up, the shaker cup holds a special shot of energy - Elk piss. The more complicated our lives get, the more we need simple spaces like this to anchor us. In simplistic terms, find your work space and anchor to help you keep your shit together. #AndDontTryDrinkingElkPiss #IWasKidding #ItsLionBlood 😉⚓️

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on May 15, 2016 at 6:46pm PDT

The relevant section of text: "On the iPad I'm reading an outline for a cool movie I'll make in 2017 (with director Shane Black)..."

Johnson's schedule is insanely busy. He's in the final days of filming Baywatch, starts shooting Fast 8 next week, and has Jumanji, Rampage, San Andreas 2, and at least one more season of HBO's Ballers on his calendar. But since he mentions 2017 specifically instead of a more general statement like "something I'm going to make soon," hopefully that means Doc Savage will leap frog a few of those other projects and we'll get to see this sooner rather than later.