Dwayne Johnson and Netflix join forces for “John Henry and the Statesmen” film

Dwayne Johnson and Netflix join forces for “John Henry and the Statesmen” film

The film also marks the third project overall for long-time collaborators Johnson and director Jake Kasdan, who have previously worked together on 2017's smash box office hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Actor Dwayne Johnson (AFP pic)

Dwayne Johnson and Netflix have teamed up for the first time on a folklore-inspired film titled “John Henry and the Statesmen”.

The movie — based on a pitch that Johnson and his Seven Bucks Production team developed with screenwriter Tom Wheeler — sees Johnson take on the title role, playing John Henry, the African-American folk hero who was so good at driving steel on the railroad that he raced a steam-powered machine designed to do the same (via CinemaBlend).

The film also marks the third project overall for long-time collaborators Johnson and director Jake Kasdan, who have previously worked together on 2017’s smash box office hit “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and will reunite to begin shooting “Jumanji 3” near the end of this year.

Johnson and Kasdan also produce, alongside fellow producers also on board: Seven Bucks Productions’ Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia, who helped develop, and longtime collaborator Beau Flynn of FlynnPictureCo.

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