Former WWE wrestler and now bona fide action star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson already has plenty of work on his plate, including the upcoming Jaume Collett-Serra take on Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” but as it turns out, there could have been much more. In an Instagram post talking about how his children love the 1971 film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” Johnson has revealed he was once considered for the part in Tim Burton‘s remake, back in the days when he was still better known simply as ‘The Rock’.
“Some cool history – back in the early 2000’s, iconic director, Tim Burton had considered me to play Willy Wonka [in] his remake, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’,” Johnson said on Instagram. When Burton was looking make an adaptation closer to the Roald Dahl book, Johnson was in the running to be Wilder’s replacement. Long time Burton collaborator Johnny Depp eventually won the part in that movie instead.
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“I remember thinking ‘HOLY SHIT, I’M IN,’” Johnson wrote. “But that was many years ago when I was just starting out in Hollywood with no foundation of global box office strength or any real acting experience to even pull it off. The role, of course, went to Johnny Depp, who at that time was the biggest star in the world. The rest was history. And down the road I went.”
With the benefit of hindsight some may consider this a bullet dodged, considering the quality and reception of that particular film, but Johnson has a more positive takeaway: “The fact Tim even considered me (albeit I’m sure he considered for all of 7 seconds:) sure meant a helluva lot to me as I was just breaking into the business with no idea what the future had in store.”
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Compared to Depp and Wilder, Willy Wonka as an unfathomably muscular factory owner may well have been one of Burton’s most surreal images in years. Or perhaps it would have been full of the aggressive charisma that we’ve come to expect from the one time People’s Champ. Some things we’ll just never know.