Dwayne Johnson is not only one of the most talented actors in Hollywood but also one of the highest-paid ones. It is known that any franchise or movie starring the actor will be highly entertaining even if it is not a masterpiece like some of his other movies. This is the reason why he has turned out to be one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
Over the years, Johnson has gained the reputation of an action star. This persona suits him well, thanks to his buffed-up appearance and wrestling background. He began his acting career when he was still wrestling and started acting in earnest when he was away from WWE with the 2001 movie The Mummy Returns. In all these years, he has managed to accumulate a net worth that could easily make some of the biggest actors jealous.
Dwayne Johnson’s Net Worth Might Have Never Been This Huge If It Wasn’t for the Fast and Furious Movies
Dwayne Johnson became one of the most popular wrestlers during his time in WWE/WWF. His reputation in the sports entertainment world landed him the chance to host Saturday Night Live. In this episode of SNL, he showcased his comic abilities, which caught the attention of Hollywood and the rest as they say is history.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Johnson has a whopping net worth of $800 million. He has been able to amass this huge fortune through his salary for the movies he has appeared in, endorsement deals, and some other business investments.
The Rundown star owes a big chunk of his fortune to the Fast and Furious franchise. As per Parade, he has made over $65 million from his role as Luke Hobbs in the action movie series. For his first two appearances in the movies Fast 5 and Fast and Furious 6, he earned $10 million respectively.
For the next movie Furious 7, he was paid $15 million. The eighth movie, The Fate of the Furious, earned him $10 million minus the backend payments, which would be a percentage of the movie’s box-office collection. According to Variety, for the spin-off movie Hobbs & Shaw, he was paid a humungous sum of $20 million.
Dwayne Johnson Was Not the First Choice for the Character of Luke Hobbs
After all these years, it is impossible to imagine anyone else in the role of Luke Hobbs. However, it has to be noted that the role was reportedly originally written for Tommy Lee Jones, best known for his roles in No Country For Old Men, Men In Black, and The Fugitive.
During a live Facebook Q&A session in 2016, Vin Diesel claimed that Hobbs was originally written with Academy Award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones in mind. However, a fan’s suggestion of casting Diesel and Dwayne Johnson side by side in a movie before the production of Fast 5 stuck, and Johnson was cast as Hobbs.
Since Hobbs’ character is like that of a bounty hunter and has an authoritative quality to it, Jones might have been a good fit due to his expertise in playing the roles of soldiers, agents, and officers. His age could have been a factor, but even that would have been beneficial for the franchise if used in the right way.
Jones being older than Johnson would have added an air of seriousness to the series, which it currently lacks. Another thing that could have happened if the Red Notice actor had not joined the cast of Fast and Furious was the avoidance of his famous feud with Vin Diesel.
