(left to right) Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans in ‘Red One’ on Prime Video.
If you’ve been waiting for news of Dwayne Johnson’s big Christmas action film to arrive like a gift in your news stockings, then we’re excited to play Father Christmas. But in the movie, JK Simmons will be Santa.
According to a new report from Deadline, Simmons and prolific actor/producer Bonnie Hunt (as Mrs. Claus) have both joined forces in a new film, which has just started shooting.
Surprisingly, a trade site report claims that the film, once called ‘Red One’, is now looking for a new title. But Johnson’s tweet about the news still refers to the title ‘Red One’. So we’ll have to wait and see what it ends up being called.
The idea came from the brain of Hiram Garcia, who was Johnson’s production partner at his Seven Bucks production company. But the person who brought the script to life has also worked with Johnson in the past – Chris Morgan, who wrote many of the ‘Fast & Furious’ films, including the 2019 spinoff, ‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. ‘
And Johnson’s roster of colleagues also includes directors, as Jake Kasdan, who directed ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’, starring The Rock, is back for this film.
Details are few and far between, and we don’t know, for example, what the real story is like. Prime Video, which took over the project in its early days, hopes it will turn into a new franchise for the streaming service and plans to sell merchandise through Amazon.
We can speculate from the first image that Johnson might be some sort of agent or superhero given the suit, while Evans – who spent a lot of time playing Captain America in the Marvel films – wore a more civilian, layered outfit for the Holiday Season.
Simmons and Hunt join a cast that already includes Johnson, Evans, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Wesley Kimmel, although there is no information on their roles yet.
Oscar winner Simmons scored his award for ‘Whiplash’, although he has been nominated several times. He is perhaps best known for playing J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ film, reprising his role (albeit as a variant version) in ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ and the newer ‘Spider-Man: None. Way home’.
Hunt is known for his TV work, including the eponymous shows and ‘The Building’. He also scored a regular job voice character in Pixar films.
‘Red One’ – or whatever it’s called, doesn’t have a definite release date yet, but it’s likely to be released on Prime Video around Christmas 2023.
(left to right) JK Simmons in ‘Big Sky’ Prime Video. Photo: Chuck Hodes. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
