Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s actually a Byrd on a motorcycle — and that Byrd is the artist formerly known as The Rock, Mr. Dwayne Johnson. Having flexed his dramatic muscles (and his muscly muscles) in The Smashing Machine just last year, it looks like Johnson is about to dig deep again with a new action-drama. Per Variety‘s reporting, the Moana star is set to play a dementia-stricken motorcycle stuntman in Free Byrd, the latest film from Sing Sing director Greg Kwedar.
Hailing from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity production company, and to be rewritten by Kwedar from an earlier draft by The Peanut Butter Falcon duo Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson, Free Byrd will see Johnson portray a Las Vegas motorcyclist who hides a devastating dementia diagnosis from everyone around him — including his mechanic brother — in order to pursue one final jump. Per a logline shared with Variety, the movie “examines and confronts the mind’s vast mysteries and the beauty and power of asking for help before it’s too late.”
Speaking about the project while out on the promotional tour for his next movie, Disney’s live-action Moana remake, Johnson said of Free Byrd: “Free Byrd is a gift in many ways. 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.”
Free Byrd is only the latest addition to a diverse slate of upcoming Dwayne Johnson joints, including the above-mentioned Moana as well as Benny Safdie reteam Lizard Music and the forthcoming final movie in the modern Jumanji trilogy, Open World. After the brilliance of Kwedar’s Sing Sing and the dramatic depth of Johnson’s work in The Smashing Machine, colour us very intrigued to see Free Byrd take flight.
