Dwayne Johnson has been trying to make his Broadway debut for several years but executing it has been more difficult than he imagined.
The Moana actor said in a new interview that he has been trying to take the stage in New York City alongside comedian Kevin Hart — but his Jumanji co-star is too busy to commit.
“For the past two and a half to three years, we have been working on my Broadway debut,” Johnson told People. “I’m revealing it now because it’s tequila talking.”
Johnson told the outlet that he and Hart were planning on starring together in a new adaptation of the Neil Simon play The Odd Couple from Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller, but their schedules still haven’t aligned.
“We should’ve been great. Kevin is my best friend. I love him to death, and the truth is he’s so booked for the next three to five years,” Johnson said.
“That’s his schedule, that’s a reality. I totally get it. And I love it and I respect him for that.”
The pair first starred together in the 2016 action-comedy Central Intelligence, before appearing in 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and its 2019 sequel Jumanji: The Next Level. The duo will reunite on screen for the trilogy-capping Jumanji: Open World, which releases on Christmas Day.
“We do Jumanji, which we’ll promote at the end of the year, but I’m not letting that dream go,” Johnson added.
The Rock suggested he may star in a Broadway play in the near future, even if Hart can’t join him, and added that he wasn’t ruling out a musical.
“So we’ll see, but maybe it’s The Odd Couple with Jeffrey. I don’t know, maybe it’s a musical and I could run around singing in keys that don’t exist,” he said. “I might do a little dance. I might snatch my waist a little bit. We’ll see.”
He added that he’s currently exploring a theatrical opportunity with Seller and Thomas Kail, the director of Hamilton and the live-action Moana.
The Odd Couple, which debuted on Broadway in 1965, follows two mismatched, newly single friends named Oscar and Felix who decide to live together. The original Broadway production starred Walter Matthau as Oscar and Art Carney as the highly-strung Felix.
As he sets his sights on Broadway, Johnson has just received some of the most disappointing reviews of his career for Disney’s live-action remake of Moana, which is facing an unsuccessful opening weekend at the U.S. box office.
The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey described Disney as having hit “copy-and-paste” on their animated hits, and criticized Johnson for “repeating the exact same voice performance he gave a decade ago, only this time in live-action, and in the flat, softly tonged wig of someone in an Eighties mall photoshoot.”
