Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is one of today's most popular and successful movie stars, and it all began with an appearance in 2001's The Mummy Returns. The film marked the acting debut of Johnson, who first rose to fame as one of the biggest stars in the world of professional wrestling.

In a new interview with THR, director Stephen Sommers looked back on the casting of Johnson as Mathayus Akkad, aka The Scorpion King. As Sommers was apparently not a fan of wrestling at the time, he had not yet heard of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson when the pro wrestler had been cast. However, the director realized pretty quickly upon watching footage of The Rock in action that the casting was "perfect." He also remembered how little time he had to shoot Johnson's scene, as well as where the idea for Johnson's own spinoff film came from.

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"He was great," Sommers said. "I had never heard of the guy, but then they sent me some footage of him, and he was just perfect. I had to shoot so fast with him because he flew into Marrakesh on Wednesday, and he had to be in Detroit for a WWE thing on Saturday. But boy, was he a trooper. As soon as the studio saw the dailies, the president of Universal was calling me up and saying, 'You got to write a movie for him.' Somehow over the next week or so, I came up with this idea that became the Scorpion King movie."

Dwayne Johnson Starred in The Scorpion King

While Johnson was only featured in a limited presence with a big boost from CGI, he had a much more substantial role in his own spinoff. The Scorpion King, released in 2002, was co-written by Sommers, William Osborne, and David Hayter, while Chuck Russell directed. This would mark the first starring role for Johnson, who has since remained one of the biggest names in Hollywood. The Scorpion King earned more than $180 million at the box office against a budget of $60 million.

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More recently, Johnson starred in the superhero movie Black Adam and returned as Hobbs in the 2023 sequel Fast X. He has multiple upcoming high-profile projects in the works, such as the upcoming holiday action movie Red One. He will also return as the voice of Maui for the animated sequel Moana 2, and will play the live-action version of the character in a Moana remake.

The Mummy Returns is currently streaming on Hulu.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter