After enjoying the fruits of his success in the WWE, The Rock sailed against the wind in Hollywood. To make a name in the film industry was no low-hanging fruit. While Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is one of the most successful actors on the planet, he had to scratch and claw to establish himself in Hollywood. Although The Rock made a career out of beating the greatest wrestlers in WWE, he once lost to one of the most successful actors in the world, Tom Cruise.
At first, The Rock went through a rocky road facing rejections but, The Great One proved his worth over the years. Turns out, the ten-time WWE Champion lost the role of “Jack Reacher” to Tom Cruise.
Jack Reacher is an action/thriller film starring Tom Cruise, released in 2012. Even though Jack Reacher’s physical attributes matched The Rock’s, Tom Cruise bagged the role.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recalls losing Jack Reacher’s role to Tom Cruise
During a Q&A session on his Instagram, The Rock chose to answer a question that reminded him of his early days in Hollywood. The question was if The Rock had ever lost out on a role, and it was given to another actor.
While revealing that it was Jack Reacher’s role, The Rock expressed how he resonated with the role. However, he admitted that it was given to Tom Cruise who, at the time, was a mega-star while The Rock was just making a name for himself in Hollywood.
“That answer is yes, that role is Jack Reacher and of course, it went to Tom Cruise. Now, this was ten years ago, and I was in a much different place, I recognize that,” he admitted. “Tom was the biggest movie star in the world, and I was not.”
The Brahma Bull also confessed that he is a fan of the character and believed he could be a good fit. But he held no hard feelings that the role went to Tom Cruise. Luckily for him, while one door closed, the other opened. The Universal Studio called The Rock and asked him to join the Fast and Furious franchise.
The Rock played Hobbs in F&F. Ahead of signing up with the franchise, The Rock was aware that there wasn’t a lot of money in the role, however, The Great One capitalized on the opportunity. All in all, The Rock is grateful that he was in the right place and at the right time.
Why did The Rock leave the Fast and Furious franchise?
After being featured in the F&F movies four times, The Rock decided to leave the franchise. John Cena was added to the franchise in F9. The reason for The Rock’s split was his rift with co-star Vin Diesel.
The Rock has claimed in several interviews that he genuinely cannot get along with Diesel. It’s worth noting that Vin Deisel publicly requested The Rock to return to the show by putting his personal feelings aside. But The Rock did not budge. Although The Rock left, he did a Fast and Furious spinoff in 2019, Hobbs and Shaw.
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