Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart to Team On Buddy Spy Comedy
Earlier this week, Dwayne "The Artist Formerly Known as The Rock" Johnson tweeted a photo of himself reading (which, for Johnson, also involves a lot of flexing for some reason) the script for his next movie, boasting that he was getting "fired up" for the project and the announcement of his "surprise" co-star. "Here's a hint," he offered. "In the right lighting and camera angles, we could pass as twins!"
Johnson was joking, of course, because the man he was referring to was Kevin Hart, who is listed on Google as standing just 5 feet 4 inches tall, which is roughly the size of half of one of Johnson's massive tree-trunk biceps. Okay, fine; technically Rock is 6'5". But it's still quite a height disparity; apple box producers all over the country must be popping champagne bottles today at this news.
The height disparity between Johnson and Hart will definitely be part of the point; the movie the two are starring in is a comedy called 'Central Intelligence.' Via Variety, here's the plot description:
The story begins with a class reunion approaching, as a former high school sports star turned accountant (Hart) is contacted by a classmate (Johnson) who was bullied and humiliated back in the day. The “loser” that the accountant remembers is now a CIA contract killer who ropes him into helping foil a plot to sell classified military secrets.
Johnson and Hart will film 'Central Intelligence' next spring for New Line, from a script by Ike Barinholtz, Dave Stassen, Sean Anders, and John Morris. The latest draft was polished by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who will also the direct the film as his follow-up to his surprise 2013 hit 'We're the Millers.'
I've long been a fan of Dwayne Johnson, and particularly like his work in action comedies, a genre he excels in but stays away from for inexplicably long stretches of time. Johnson and Hart are a perfectly mismatched pair, which is a key element of any buddy cop (or spy) movie. With the right screenplay (and the right cameraman to figure out how to keep them both in frame at the same time) these two could make a really funny film.