Tobias Santelmann will face off against Johnson as Rhesus in the Brett Ratner-directed action movie from MGM-Paramount.
- Jun 21, 2013
AceShowbiz - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will square off against a Norwegian in his next project. Tobias Santelmann, who played Knut Haugland in 2012's "Kon-Tiki" from directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, just lands a role in "Hercules: The Thracian Wars", the MGM-Paramount co-production.
The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news first, reports that Santelmann is set to portray a golden-locked barbarian and revolutionary named Rhesus. The character is described as the archenemy of the Greek demigod, who will be featured as "a mortal with a fearsome reputation" instead of the son of Zeus.
Ratner, whose credits include "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Tower Heist", directs the movie, which is currently shooting in Budapest. Besides directing, Ratner serves as co-producer alongside Beau Flynn and Barry Levine.
Last week, Johnson took to Twitter to release an image, teasing his Hercules transformation. "3 hr daily process w/ multi-time Academy Award nominated hair & make up artists. Love the transformation," Johnson tweeted along with the black-and-white photo.
Set for a July 25, 2014 release, "The Thracian Wars" is penned by Ryan Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos.