‘Black Adam’: Jaume Collet-Serra Might Direct Dwayne Johnson In Long-Brewing Superhero Movie
Jaume Collet-Serra, director ofThe Shallows, is the top choice to directDwayne JohnsoninBlack Adam. The Warner Bros. DC film is supposedly tied directly into this year’sShazam!, and would star Johnson as a villainous character who faces off against Shazam in the comics. Johnson has been attached to the project since 2008, and there was some question about whether the movie would ever see the light of day. Now, on the heels ofShazam!, it looks like Warner Bros. and New Line are ready to get serious.The Observerbroke the news about Jaume Collet-Serra as the frontrunner to helmBlack Adam. Collet-Serra’s credits includeOrphan,House of Wax,The Shallows,andThe Commuter. He also directed Disney’s upcomingJungle Cruise, which stars Dwayne Johnson. Perhaps Johnson liked working with Collet-Serra so much that he pushed him for theBlack Adamgig. Back in 2017,Adam Sztykielwas announced as theBlack Adammovie screenwriter, but its unclear if his draft is the one that will be used, or if a new script has come together since then.
Regarding theBlack Adammovie, Johnson previously said:
“It’s a challenging thing because when Marvel is doing such an incredible job of universe building and building out, and DC is doing a great job in finding the footing and tone of their movies – certainly with Wonder Woman, for example, I look forward to James Wan’s movie coming out with Aquaman – so Black Adam is this phenomenal opportunity for us to nail the tone and make sure he’s badass. Make sure that we’re serving the mythology properly. But then also making sure that we can have intrinsic DNA tied to a lot of other properties in DC. It’s not an easy thing to do, but I think we’re going to nail it.”
According to theDC Wiki, “Black Adam was an ancient Egyptian slave who received the powers of the Wizard Shazam. However he was imprisoned for millennia by the Wizard after he misused his powers. He was eventually freed in the modern day where he went on to battle the Wizard’s new champion Billy Batson many times.” Black Adam didn’t appear inShazam, but he was apparently briefly mentioned by the Wizard, played by Djimon Hounsou.
I’ll admit that I know next to nothing about Black Adam as a character, but I’m a huge fan of Collet-Serra’s highly-stylized work, which immediately makes me interested in this project. At one point, Collet-Serra’s name was being thrown around as a potentialSuicide Squad 2director, so Warner Bros. and DC must be keen to work with him.
