‘F*** the villain’: Dwayne Johnson says he can see himself as James Bond

Dwayne Johnson has said that he’s far more interested in playing James Bond than a villain in the action franchise.

The actor’s grandfather Peter Maivia, who was also a wrestler, played a “bad guy” opposite Sean Connery in the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice.

In a new interview, Johnson was asked what film series he’d most like to appear in, when he recalled his family connection to 007.

“You know my grandfather was in You Only Live Twice?” he told LadBible. “He was, he was a bad guy in You Only Live Twice. He had this amazing fight scene with Sean Connery. Yeah, I could see that... I would easily say James Bond.”

Adding that he would also like to appear in a Star Wars film, he continued: “I see myself as James Bond. F*** the villain! An American Bond? It can happen, right? It’s like Henry Cavill playing Superman.”

Johnson is currently appearing in DC superhero film Black Adam, which has been received poorly by critics.

In a one-star review, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey said that Black Adam was “a bewildering entry in a franchise already falling apart at the seams”.

“If there aren’t punches being thrown, Black Adam seems locked into heavy-handed portent: there are lots of vague references to power, destiny and fate, with Johnson delivering every line in the same exhausting monotone. There’s absolutely nothing of consequence,” she wrote.

However, Johnson appeared to brush off the film’s critical reception on social media as he highlighted the film’s 90 per cent score among audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Black Adam has a 41 per cent critic score on the review aggregator site.

Earlier this month, Johnson also confirmed that he was no longer considering running to be US president, having said in 2017 that he’d “100 per cent” consider going for the job.

“It’s off the table. Yes. It is off the table,” the actor verified before clarifying: “I love our country and everyone in it.”