5 Hollywood Roles Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Either Turned Down or Lost to Tom Cruise, Mark Wahlberg & Others

At the zenith of his pro wrestling career, Dwayne Johnson left the WWE Universe in equal portions of shock and amazement as he moved to Hollywood to pursue his acting career. Two decades have passed by and it’s safe to say Johnson’s risky choice has been validated. Now in 2023, he’s one of the most sought-after silver screen celebs across the globe.

It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that Johnson is among the top runners for roles suited for his type- the brawny action hero. However, it might surprise you that he has had to lose his roles to other prominent stars in the industry, as late as 2012, after 11 years in Hollywood. Here’s a list of five roles that were played by others that the 51-year-old could have played. 

Ice Cube brought to life cop character snubbed by Dwayne Johnson 

Believe it or not, Dwayne Johnson was the guy who was going to essay the character of James Payton In Ride Along (2014). No, Kevin Hart wasn’t the first choice either to play Ben Barber. That was supposed to be Ryan Reynolds. The pair of Reynolds and Johnson later teamed up for Red Notice (2021), but it could have happened earlier as well.

Legendary rapper Ice Cube played the undercover cop detective with Hart as his sister’s boyfriend. While the two black actors did a good job, what do you think the movie would turn out with Johnson and Reynolds as the actors? We’ll never know.

Dwayne Johnson as Cade Yaeger in Transformers: Age Of Extinction?

Another 2014 movie that could have been Dwayne Johnson’s, but it wasn’t. The role eventually played by Mark Wahlberg- of Cade Yeager, a struggling inventor- was supposed to be played by The Great One. However, his commitment to another project, Hercules, prevented him from doing the role.

As per IMDB, this action-packed Transformers movie raked in $1,104,054,072 globally. Do you reckon Johnson missed out on adding another billion-dollar film to his kitty?

Dwayne Johnson said no to Reaper’s role in Doom

Still early in his career, with his movie credits reading The Rock instead of Dwayne Johnson, the WWE icon has said no to the main character in this 2005 film. As per reports, Johnson was initially offered the role of John “Reaper” Grimm but refused it. He found Sgt. Asher “Sarge” Mahonin was more appealing and played that character.

Johnson’s character also turns into a villain later in the movie. Actor Karl Urban played the role of Reaper.

Johnny Depp beat Johnson to play this iconic character from Tim Burton movie 

Ace director Tim Burton had Dwayne Johnson listed as his second choice for the role of Willy Wonka. Had Johnny Depp said no to playing the role of the eccentric chocolate maker, Johnson would have been offered the iconic Roald Dahl character.

Who would have been the better choice for the 2005 released movie? That question is up for debate now.

Tom Cruise snatched Johnson’s dream role

Imagine, you’re Dwayne Johnson and you have the perfect physique to play a character as per its description in the novel, yet you lose the role. This is exactly what happened to Dwayne Johnson as Tom Cruise was selected to play Jack Reacher (2012). The casting of Cruise did raise some eyebrows, as he looked nothing like Reacher’s descriptions in the author Lee Child’s novels, but nonetheless, the veteran actor played it convincingly enough.

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Johnson had auditioned for this role but missed the assignment as it went to Cruise. Later, actor Alan Ritchson played the character in Amazon Prime’s adaptation, titled Reacher (2022).

 

So, which of these roles do you think could have been played better by the wrestler-turned-actor? Let us know in the comments.

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