Dwayne Johnson Endorses Idea of Armie Hammer Playing Shazam

One of the most frequently fancast superhero roles in recent memory is DC’s Shazam. The character will star in his own movie, which was originally set to feature Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam. However, while Johnson is still involved as a producer, he’s now appearing in his own movie instead. Meanwhile, Shazam might be directed by Lights Out‘s David F. Sandberg.

Now, Johnson has expressed interest in an actor for the Shazam role. Speaking with We Got This Covered (transcription via Heroic Hollywood), The Rock reaffirmed that Black Adam’s backstory is a big draw to him, and he’s been trying to play that character for about 10 years now.

Talk then shifted to casting Shazam, and Johnson strongly teased one of “a handful” of potential candidates. “…I’m going to throw out a name out there, and I want to see how the fans will react to it. A guy who I met, I went ‘Wow! That guy is such a cool guy! He is a lot bigger than I thought he would be.’ And when I walked away, I remember telling our producer, who I have worked with for a long time, we both looked at each other and were like ‘Possibly Shazam?!’ and we went ‘Yes!’ I’m not even going to say his name, I’m just going to say Lone Ranger.”

Of course, Johnson is talking about Armie Hammer. He cautions that there haven’t been any contracts signed, and these aren’t even studio-level discussions (yet). Just some ideas being thrown around.

Hammer has actually been rumored for a DC movie role for a while. He is/was reportedly on the Hal Jordan shortlist for Green Lantern Corps, something he’s denied in interviews. However, he’s trolled some fans about the idea on social media, so who knows if there’s anything there. But if Hammer doesn’t play Green Lantern, then we’d love to see him as Shazam.

Shazam was previously scheduled for an April 2019 release, but it’s unclear if the film will be ready for that date. Stay tuned for more updates as we have them.