Dwayne Johnson shares ‘Rampage’ monster movie details

There has always been something immensely satisfying about watching giant monsters flatten an entire city, which perhaps explains the appeal of movies such as “Godzilla” and “Pacific Rim.” Well, unless you didn’t know, there’s another kaiju film on the way called “Rampage,” and it stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

“Rampage” started filming on April 17. Just recently, Johnson shared some story details about the movie on his Instagram account.

Johnson will be playing the leader of an anti-poaching unit in Rwanda. His best friend happens to be a rare albino gorilla named George. When villains infect George, a wolf, and an alligator with a gene-altering serum, they grow at an alarming rate until they mutate into extremely fast, agile, and aggressive giants.

“George not happy. Me not happy. When animals like you, they lick you. When they don’t like you, they kill you. I will hunt down the bad people who did this to my best friend. And when I find them, I will not lick them,” stated Johnson.

 

Goin' primal. ???? Good to finally have boots on the ground here in Georgia for production of #RAMPAGE. I head up an anti poaching unit out of Rwanda. My best friend is a rare albino gorilla named, George. Very bad people infect George, an alligator and a wolf with a serum. All three animals grow at an unprecedented rate. Their size, speed, agility and violent aggression is off the charts. They go on a deadly rampage and want to destroy the world. George not happy. Me not happy. When animals like you, they lick you. When they don't like you, they kill you. I will hunt down the bad people who did this to my best friend. And when I find them, I will not lick them. We have the best VFX monster making team (WETA) on the planet. Our actors and crew have been working very hard to raise the monster genre bar. As always, let's have some fun. Let's shoot. ???????? #PrimalDNA #George #Lizzy #Ralph #RAMPAGE

A post shared by therock (@therock) on

Apr 29, 2017 at 1:59pm PDT

In a post on Facebook, Johnson introduced the 6’9” Jason Liles, the actor who will be portraying George.

“Jason has been studying gorillas for months now preparing for this motion capture role,” said Johnson. “Gorillas movements, body language, and all emotions – joy, pain, sadness, love, aggression etc. It’s insane when you get around this man and how he’s able to embody a gorilla.”

Johnson added that Weta Digital will be in charge of the special effects:

“We have the best VFX monster making team (WETA) on the planet,” he said. “Our actors and crew have been working very hard to raise the monster genre bar. As always, let’s have some fun. Let’s shoot.”

Co-founded by Peter Jackson in 1993, the New-Zealand based effects studio is known for its work on visually spectacular films such as “Avatar,” “The Avengers,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” the modern “Planet of the Apes” films, and of course the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

In addition to Johnson, “Rampage” also stars Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”), Malin Akerman (“Watchmen”), Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Watchmen”). Its director is Brad Peyton (“San Andreas”).

“Rampage” is based on the 1986 arcade game of the same name, which was developed and published by Bally Midway. It allows three players to simultaneously control George the giant gorilla, Ralph the gargantuan werewolf, and Lizzie the dinosaur/lizard behemoth. Players have to destroy cities and eat people to advance through levels. In the process, they have to survive attacks by military forces.

The game would eventually be ported to various gaming systems, such as the Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, and Atari Lynx, which adds a fourth monster, Larry the giant rat.

In 1997, “Rampage” got a sequel in the form of “Rampage World Tour.” This was later followed by several other titles such as “Rampage 2: Universal Tour” and “Rampage: Total Destruction.”

The “Rampage” movie is expecting an April 20, 2018 worldwide release. — BM, GMA News