EXCLUSIVE: Spy-Hunter Production Update #1! Source: Coming Soon! Tuesday, July 29, 2003

The Rock will soon be starring as Alec Sects in Universal’s Spy-Hunter, the big live-action adaptation of Midway Games’ popular game. The studio recently announced that 2 Fast 2 Furious screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hired to write the action-adventure film. ComingSoon.net talked with producer Adrian Askarieh about the project and he will be providing the site with updates as the production moves along! What’s the current status?

“We are expecting a draft of the screenplay, by writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, to be turned in very shortly and hope to be filming in very early 2004. The story will take place around the world and is being made to appeal to both the fans of the game and general audiences. The Interceptor will play a major part in the film. Audiences can expect to see one of the most vicious film villains in a very long time. We are really having fun with matching The Rock against a bad guy that is a real threat to him and we feel that we are coming up with someone that not only holds his own with The Rock, but a character that could become an unforgettable bad guy.”

Excellent news for fans of the game and The Rock. Stay tuned for lots more on the film!

New Movie for Rock! King Kamehamha is set for production!
Swords and Sandals Week continues with a Hawaiian epic starring The Rock
Today’s batch of updates mostly focuses on release dates; lots of them. In fact, there’s so many high-profile release dates/changes I don’t even know which ones to single out (just check that list!). There’s also the latest “Swords and Sandals Week” entry, King Kamehameha, which will star professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (pictured above) as the famed Hawaiian warrior who brought the islands together as one nation.
Release Date: TBA 2005/2006 (tentative) (wide)

Title Note: (7/28/03) I traditionaly have such a hard time pronouncing King Kamehameha’s name correctly that I eventually had to ask a friend to take a few sentences to drill it into my memory. My problem was that I kept thinking it sounded like “Kahme-Hahme-Ha” (it doesn’t). My friend used the version of “Kyle’s Mom…” from South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut to demonstrate the correct pronunciation: “Kuh-May-a-May-a” to me. Now, I pass this valuable lesson on to you.

Distributor: Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Production Company: Original Film (XXX2, RPM, Torque, The Fast & the Furious)

Cast: The Rock (King Kamehameha); others not announced yet.

Cast Notes: (7/28/03) Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson grew up in Hawaii, and is half African-Canadian and half-Samoan (he’s the grandson of the High Chief Peter Maivia). There are very few stars of Pacific Islands descent who could open a big-budget movie like this (The Rock is pretty much it), so a half-Samoan playing a Hawaiian king is probably as close as they’re going to get (and still be able to support a movie of this budget).

Director: Rob Cohen (XXX, Dragonheart, The Fast and the Furious, The Skulls, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story; he’s also got XXX2 in development)

Screenwriter: Gregory Poirier (Tomcats, Rosewood; cowriter of Gossip, See Spot Run; also has A Sound of Thunder coming soon)

Screenwriter Note: (7/28/03) Screenwriter Gregory Poirier, whose pitch to Sony got this project moving in 2002, grew up on a hippie commune in Maui, and had previously spent eight years trying to get a movie going about Hawaii’s most famous tribal leader.

Based Upon: (7/28/03) This movie is based upon the 18th century Hawaiian tribal leader, Kamehameha, who conquered the seven Hawaiian islands and made them a single kingdom under his rule.

Premise: This is the epic adventure of how an 18th century Hawaiian tribal leader, Kamehameha (The Rock), conquered the seven main islands of Hawaii, and linked those tribes together as a single kingdom under his rule, which established them as a nation rather than a collection of feuding tribes. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, as this consolidation also allowed King Kamehameha to more adequately deal with the English explorers who came to the islands, starting with Captain Cook, who brought to Hawaii the wonders of modern technology, like firearms and tall-mast sailing.

Filming: (7/28/03) There is currently no firm production start date for this movie, but it’s possible it could be one of The Rock’s next projects after wrapping up Walking Tall (Spy-Hunter is also waiting in the wings). Production is confirmed as taking place primarily at locations and on sets in Hawaii.

Genre: Action, Biography, Eye Candy, Historical, Romance, War

The Rock?s Next RAW Appearance still hanging
I have been receiving a lot of email from readers regarding when The Rock will make an appearance on RAW. Several people were disappointed when he was not able to live up to his rumored appearance this past Monday. From what I understand, Rock is still tentatively scheduled for the August 4th edition of RAW in Vancouver.
Rajahwwf.com

The latest on The Rock appearing on RAW is that if his filming
schedule allows, they will try to write him into the August 4th show in
Vancouver,which is the site they are currently shooting his latest movie. Several
in WWE feel that the appearance should be nothing more than a brief cameo,
due to the fact that if he is pushed more than that it will hurt WWE in the
long run due to Rock not being able to continue on the show until later next
year. To clear up a lot of reader confusion, The Rock’s latest movie has
had several different names. The film has been titled “Helldorado” and
“Welcome To The Jungle”, but will now be called “The Rundown” and is set to hit
theaters on September 26, 2003.

Rock still on for Raw Monday NightThe current plan is still for The Rock to appear on RAW this Monday night in Los Angeles and again when the show comes to Vancouver, B.C. on August 4th. There has been talk that Rock will just appear on Monday?s RAW, but will actually wrestle at the Vancouver show. Rock is still shooting the ?Walking Tall? remake just outside of Vancouver at two separate locations.
credit: rajahwwf

VH1 Presents: THE GREATEST: 200 GREATEST POP CULTURE ICONS
Tune in: Monday, July 21-25 @ 9/8c PM

You can quote them in an instant, reference them with just one name, and even dress up like them for Halloween. In this always-expanding pop culture of ours, there are plenty of stars, but precious few icons. On its latest edition of the acclaimed Greatest countdown series, VH1 burrows into the pop personas that have made the ultimate impact – names so familiar they’re recognized and revered in the world’s most far-flung spots.

Sex In the City?s Kristin Davis is your host through five nights worth of intriguing installments. She’ll also be showing us who online voters chose in a separate poll (vote now for your favorites)! From Abba to Wonder Woman, The 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons is coming to make sense of uber fame’s timeless nature.

On VH1.com:

? Games!
? Photo Galleries
? Information on each featured artist
? And much more!

Log on to VH1.com at:

P.S. – feel free to post this link/banner on your site. If you post it, please drop me an email letting us know you support VH1.com – Thank you!

VIEW FROM THE FENCE: In class with The Rock

By John French
Reporter

I got to meet The Rock this week.
I?m not much of a celebrity gazer so, for me, interviewing a star isn?t a big deal.
On the odd occasion when I crack open a supermarket tabloid or People magazine I want to shower after looking at the paparazzi photos of stars in their private world and reading about someone?s messy Hollywood divorce or Ben and Jen?s latest nightclub sighting.

While I wasn?t stoked about meeting The Rock, I was pleasantly surprised at how accessible he was and how important it was to him to talk to the people waiting to meet him.

Another pleasant surprise was how unobtrusive the filming of Walking Tall seemed to be.

For me, Say It Isn?t So and Insomnia were far more problematic for Squamish than Walking Tall was.

The people from Insomnia basically told my office that we could not come out of our building while they were filming. Al Pacino and Hilary Swank circled around the block for a full day filming a car scene while we were locked down.

It seems to me that Cub Eight Productions, the company behind Walking Tall, did things right. Before coming here, they did all kinds of homework; locations manager Abraham Fraser met with concerned people and the production?s publicist, David Linck, made sure reporters and citizens had access to the production.

Those involved in the shoot were conscious of Squamish?s needs. While I was hanging out with The Rock at Cleveland and Victoria I heard one of the production people tell the crew that they had to move quickly because the intersection couldn?t be locked down much longer.

That is just one example of how considerate this group was.

It looks to me like this filming experience, at the end of the day, was a positive one for Squamish.

The film?s big star became the most photographed landmark of the week and his legacy will live on here.

We as a community can really learn something from The Rock. He came here knowing he was a guest and respected the local people and their wants.

A small group in this community weren?t inviting at first and tried to get as much as they could out of the production. In the end, the ?dressing down? wasn?t too bad and efforts to inform people of why the downtown looked a little rough seemed to be effective.

The next time someone like The Rock leads a parade of movie workers into town, let?s quietly learn as much as we can about the production before it arrives.

ROCKing Squamish
Actor/wrestler has plenty of time for fans on local film shoot
By John French
Reporter
He isn?t as big as most people think and he doesn?t act like your typical spoiled over-paid Hollywood actor.
Dwayne ?The Rock? Johnson was here to film a movie and he made it part of his job to sign autographs and be photographed.

Most people don?t know him by his real name and even he refers to himself by his professional name.

The number of people walking around Squamish with the Rock?s autograph is significant and the actor has knocked the Stawamus Chief out of top spot on the local list of most photographed rock formations.

During an interview with The Chief on Monday (July 7), he politely put the questioning on hold to meet fans waiting for him. The word got out that he was accessible and his fans waited at the edges of the Walking Tall shooting areas. Some waited hours and the Rock knew that so he did his best to pull away from shooting the movie to greet the spectators whenever he could.

Monday morning, he was shooting a scene where he pulls up in front of the Wild Cherry Casino, gets out of his truck, loads a shotgun, then thinks better of using the gun and trades the firearm for a piece of wood.

The scene continues with the Rock storming into the casino and throwing someone against a backlit sign.

According to Walking Tall publicist David Linck, the scene is an important part of the movie, which was originally done in 1973. The Rock plays a sheriff in the MGM movie being produced by Cub Eight Productions Inc. The Rock?s character returns to his hometown to find that it was taken over by undesirables.

The Rock said he is looking to grow as an actor, although he also said he will never completely give up wrestling, which runs in his family ? the Rock is the son of former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson.

?With wrestling, I?m not too sure when I will go back,? he said. ?Vince [McMahon] has been very understanding and very supportive.?

Before breaking into wrestling, The Rock played football. He played university football at the University of Miami and then moved his football career to Canada to play with the Calgary Stampeders.

He only played football for four months and said he starved through the experience because he was only being paid $300 a week.

When he was asked what position he played, The Rock had a quick answer.

?Left out,? he said with a tiny smile on his face, referring to the Stampeders cutting him from the lineup.

He decided to get out of football and tried to make it in the wrestling world in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

?It is very tough to get into,? he said. ?There is pressure to do well and it is difficult to make it. It is much like the film world. It is difficult to break in and tough to make it. I work my butt off and work with good people and surround myself with good people.?

His acting credits include The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King and a soon-to-be-released film called The Rundown. The Rock plays a bounty hunter who tries to square a debt by heading to the Amazon jungle to capture someone.

The filming of Walking Tall in Squamish is complete now but according to the production?s publicist, David Linck, Squamish felt a significant economic impact from the movie.

Assistant Director and local resident Adriane Polo said more than half of the extras used in the movie were from Squamish. A number of other local residents helped behind the scenes on things like set construction and security.

Local stuntman Mark Aisbett had a bit part as a police officer.

The Rock recently did an interview on Vancouver’s “Rock 101″ with host Robin LaRose.
Below are some highlights that I have re-written from a report originally published on 1Wrestling.com.
- The Rock confirmed that he will be on WWE RAW as soon as he is in the same city as the show is. Rock said that he will be at the RAW in Hollywood on July 21st and that show will set up a match for RAW in Vancouver on August 4th.

- Rock said that he would not be at SummerSlam, despite it being one of his favorite events.

- He said that his movie Walking Trail has two tentative release dates. One being the Summer of 2004 the other being the Fall of 2004.

- Rock said that he plans on returning to WWE full time in January of 2004 and will be a part of WrestleMania XX in New York.

credit: rajahwwf.com

Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson is shooting scenes in Squamish and showing the locals how to pack food away.
SPOTTINGS

Mercy, talk about an appetite. Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, shooting scenes for his movie, Walking Tall, in Squamish last week, dropped by for dinner with three muscle-y pals at The Roadhouse at Shannon Falls last Friday night.

“He was very nice, polite and really quite funny,” says owner Karen Anderson. “A little boy asked for his autograph and he obliged very nicely and signed our guest book as well.”

And get what the guy wolfed down: A spinach salad with grilled breast of chicken, a burger with cheese (no bun), french fries AND a 10-ounce N.Y. steak with saut?ed mushrooms, onions and vegetables, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, the house-baked panbread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and three soft drinks.

Producers for the proposed “Shazam!” movie have their eyes on casting The Rock for the role of Captain Marvel.
One critic spoke out against Rock
by saying, “It’s hard to imagine The Rock as anything other than cocky,
snotty, and wooden

Backstage Trouble Related To Rock & Triple H
As you heard recently, writer Chris Bell did not have his 90-day tryout
period extended into a contract by WWE. The Rock recommended Bell for
the job after they met at the UPW school, where Rock trained for a recent
return.

- Interestingly enough, while some wrestlers liked him, others were not
too fond of Bell. He also reportedly told other wrestlers what Triple H
would have to say about them in private production meetings.

thanks to rockinme for the news