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The Rock to star in new HBO series Ballers (premieres on June 21st)

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RBH

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Just days after winning the top spot at the box office with their action feature Pain & Gain, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Mark Wahlberg are back at it.

The duo are teaming up for a half-hour dramedy pilot set up at HBO about the lives of retired athletes living in Miami, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, with Johnson attached to star.

The untitled Miami athletes project hails from Stephen Levinson (Entourage), who will pen the script and executive produce alongside Mark Wahlberg, Johnson, Dany Garcia and Peter Berg, the latter of whom will direct the pilot. A search is under way for a showrunner, with HBO looking to film the pilot in the fall.

The Miami athletes dramedy continues the premium cable network's relationship with Levinson and Wahlberg, whose credits also include HBO vehicles Boardwalk Empire, How to Make It in America and In Treatment.

Johnson is no stranger to the sports world, having played college football before kicking off his World Wrestling Federation career and becoming one of the sport's best and most renowned personalities. The pilot order comes more than a week after Johnson had hernia surgery to repair an injury suffered in April during a championship title match against John Cena. (Cena came out on top.)

The pilot marks Johnson's latest small-screen effort. In June, he'll host TNT's reality competition series The Hero, in which 10 people live in a house and participate in various missions that test their brains, brawn and even their morality. The HBO vehicle, should it go to series, would mark his first small-screen series regular role following features The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and countless others.

For Berg, the Johnson starrer will bring the number of HBO pilots he's attached to direct to two, joining Damon Lindelof's adaptation of The Leftovers. He also has pulp thriller Bloodline in contention at NBC, which has been building steam heading into this month's upfront presentations.

The Miami sports dramedy pilot order comes a day after HBO picked up critical darling Veep for a third season and just weeks before the premiere of Christopher Guest series Family Tree. HBO also has the six-episode entry Getting On and Stephen Merchant's Hello Ladies in the works. On the development side, the cabler also has pilots People in New Jersey, Mike Judge's Silicon Valley, the Duplass brothers' Togetherness, the San Francisco-set Michael Lannan entry in the works.

Levinson is repped by WME and Leverage Entertainment; Wahlberg is with WME, Leverage and Sloane Offer; and Berg is with WME and Hirsch Wallerstein.
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/dwayne-johnson-star-hbo-dramedy-450412
 
H

Host Samurai

Member
Same guys that were working on Entourage and How to Make it in America? Hell yes

The Rock seems to be in a new feature every week. I feel hes been in at least 2 movies a month within the past 3 or 4 months.
 
J

Jay Sosa

Member
I'll watch whatever he's starring in, Hell I even watched parts of the tooth fairy and that island movie (but that was more because of Hudgens, I admit)
 
D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
RatskyWatsky said:
HBO has too many half hour comedies/dramedies in development for my liking. Moar dramaz plz.
Click to expand...

Word. I want them dramas. There are a few short miniseries in the works, but nothing particularly exciting. Otherwise, no real positive news on the drama side in terms of something making it to air.
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
I'm happy for Dwayne. He can keep on making movies and TV shows.
Any chance he can find a gig for John? I'm sick of him wrasslin' too.
 
K

~Kinggi~

Banned
The Rock is amazing, which i feel conflicted thinking. He shouldnt be amazing, but he is amazing. I really enjoyed him in Faster and Fast Five. The Rundown was good too.
 
R

RBH

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ballers-johnson.jpg



Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15lfITfxMDI



The debut episode of Ballers will air on HBO on June 21st at 10pm.
Click to expand...

Synopsis:

"Looking at the lives of former and current football players, the show follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football. Rob Corrdry, Omar Benson Miller, John David Washington, Donovan Carter, Troy Garity, Jazmyn Simon, and Arielle Kebble also star. Created and executive produced by Steve Levinson; executive produced by Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg, Dany Garcia, Julian Farino, Evan Reilly and Rob Weiss."
Click to expand...

HBO has now unveiled the first Ballers trailer for Dwayne Johnson’s upcoming series. Created and executive produced by Steve Levinson (Entourage, Boardwalk Empire), the show stars Johnson as a former football superstar who gets his life on track in retirement by mentoring other current players. The show very much looks to have a strong Entourage vibe, making swell use of its Miami location and ensemble cast.

The main draw here is that Dwayne Johnson has his own TV series, so that’s reason enough to tune in. Though it’s a half-hour series, it looks like Ballers will also delve into a bit of drama—that’s not uncommon at HBO, though, where only 50% of its “comedies” are straight-up comedies. The series also boasts Friday Night Lights alum and feature film director Peter Berg as an executive producer alongside Mark Wahlberg, and Berg also helmed the pilot.

The show also stars Rob Corddry, Rmar Benson Miller, John David Washington, Donovan Carter, Troy Garity, Jazmyn Simon, and Arielle Kebble.
Click to expand...
 
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