Dwayne Johnson is back on the hunt for an Oscar nomination.
According to Variety, Johnson is set to star in and produce Free Byrd for Artists Equity. Greg Kwedar — a back-to-back Academy Award nominee for Sing Sing and Train Dreams — will direct the action-drama and rewrite the screenplay.
In Free Byrd, Johnson stars as a Las Vegas motorcycle stuntman who conceals his dementia diagnosis from everyone, including his mechanic brother, as he risks everything on one last jump. The film, the official logline explains, “examines and confronts the mind’s vast mysteries and the beauty and power of asking for help before it’s too late.”
“Free Byrd is a gift in many ways,” said Johnson. “Emblematic of life’s sacred beauty, as well as life’s harsh and callous reality. The subject matter of Free Byrd has become deeply personal to Greg Kwedar and myself as we’ve started to unpack this fateful journey together. Artists Equity have been incredible filmmaking and artistic partners, who not only share Greg’s vision for the film, but who are all connected to our story in their own unique and personal ways. When the mind of a loved one begins to slip away, life sure takes on a whole new meaning.”
In a joint statement, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Artists Equity’s CEO and Chief Content Officer, respectively, said:
“This is a project that all of us at the company have connected with personally. Greg is one of the most exciting writer-directors working today, and Dwayne is an extraordinary talent and person. We are extremely excited that they have chosen to make this with us and very much look forward to sharing the finished film with audiences.”
It’s well known that Johnson was hoping to receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine. He told Esquire last month that it “would have been incredible to get nominated for an Oscar. I realized very quickly that it’s a rare thing to reach this pinnacle where you’re even having these conversations. And it’s exciting! It would have been amazing. I wish it happened. But it didn’t.”
The actor added, “In no uncertain terms did I ever think, ‘Oh, that doesn’t matter.’ I always thought it mattered. And it has lit a fire in my spine.”
Free Byrd is one of several projects with Oscar potential that Johnson has found himself attached to since The Smashing Machine. Also ahead for the actor are an untitled Hawaiian-set mafia movie from Martin Scorsese, Lizard Music (in what will be a re-team with Benny Safdie), and a psychological thriller from Darren Aronofsky called Breakthrough.
Are you ready to see Johnson work for an Oscar?
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