Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson knows that his bread is buttered on two different sides, and full credit to his agents, they know to make not either side gets dry. The former wrestler does boffo box office in kids fare like “The Tooth Fairy” or “Race To Witch Mountain,” while he maintains his street cred jumping into action roles like “Faster” or the upcoming “Fast Five.” So it’s no surprise that the guy who is also going to be in “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” has just signed on for another meat and potatoes actioner to balance things out.
THR reports that Johnson is lining up “Snitch.” Set to be written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh (“Felon“), the project, which has been knocking around for a little while (Carl Franklin was attached to direct when it was over at New Line), centers on a suburban dad whose son is sentenced to thirty years in prison thanks to draconian minimum drug sentencing laws. In order to get his son out earlier, he decides to go undercover and help bust a major drug dealer. And if this all sounds a little ridiculous, it’s actually based on a “Frontline” documentary.
All that said, we doubt it will be a probing look at drug laws; we expect The Rock is gonna be cracking skulls and taking names. We’re also not sure that sending the parents of convicted criminals to do undercover work is standard operating procedure so what do we know. But then again, we didn’t know a hockey player was the tooth fairy until we saw that movie either.
Anyway, filming on “Snitch” is set to begin in June.
