Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson says he had auditioned for the part of the popular character Jack Reacher, which he lost out to actor Tom Cruise.
"In Hollywood, actors are kind of like in-a-box. There are actors that can vie for a particular role because it allows for them to have a certain look, skin colour, size, etc. Fortunately, for me, there aren't a lot of guys at all who look like me. So, all of my roles, from the beginning of my career, I've been a lucky son that they've been created and designed for me except Jack Reacher," he said.
At that time, Johnson said that Cruise was "biggest movie star in the world". "I got the call saying 'Hey, you didn't get the role'. Look, I didn't even know if I had a shot for it, but the people around me at that time made me think that I did. I felt like I did, I felt like 'Why not me?'" he said.
"The universe works in funny ways though, as when that door shut on me, another door opened with the opportunity to create a character from scratch that was of my DNA," he said.
Today, Johnson is one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, and has iconic films, including 'The Mummy Returns', 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island', 'Hercules', 'Snitch', 'Moana', revamped 'Jumanji' franchise and 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw', under his belt. —TOI