Did you know The Artist Formerly Known As The Rock had a cameo in “Why Did I Get Married Too”? Is he a close personal friend of Tyler Perry? Is there a secret link between WWE wrestlers and “Meet The Browns”? Whatever the case, that might be the last we see of the namby-pamby comedy star Dwayne Johnson that’s been polluting movie screens in the likes of “The Game Plan” and the surprisingly successful “The Tooth Fairy.” This summer he plays a badass cop in “The Other Guys” and will be taking the lead on the revenge thriller “Faster,” so it looks like Johnson’s finally followed his true calling – punching lots of people, with occasional flexing.
Johnson’s following up these two efforts with another tough-guy starrer, the long-in-development “Protection.” In the script by Brandon Noonan, a Special Forces operative has to travel to Mexico to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a judge. The project began as a teaming of Paul Walker and director Simon West (“The General’s Daughter”), which likely would have been unwatchable. Recently, Clive Owen was going to star for Patrick Alessandrin (“District 13: Ultimatum”), but we guess both parties realized no one really pays to see Clive Owen movies anymore. No director is currently attached, but how hard is it to do the Rock vs. Mexican hoods?