Aldis Hodge is flying high in his new role!
On Friday, The Hollywood Reporter...reported (heh) that Hodge was in talks (final negotiations, in fact) to portray Hawkman in the upcoming DC Comics film, Black Adam. For a bit of background for those not in the know, Black Adam is known as an anti-hero in DC lore and per DC Comics’ official site, “the hero known as Hawkman has been a human being trapped in an ancient Egyptian curse of endless death and rebirth, and at other times, an alien police officer sent to Earth to help defend it.” Hawkman is an antagonist of Black Adam’s.
We typically wait until the ink is dry on the contract to report on casting news ourselves, but a day after the news went out in the trades, Black Adam himself, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson confirmed the news on his Instagram page writing, “Hawkman is a critical leading role for our movie. He is the fiery leader of the JSA (Justice Society of America) and one of the most beloved and legendary characters in the DC Universe.”
This wasn’t your typical casting confirmation news where the agent makes the call, as Johnson wanted to deliver the news to Hodge personally. Apparently, the life-changing convo went something like this, per Johnson’s IG caption:
Aldis: Hello?
DJ: Hello, I’d like to speak to Aldis.
Aldis: Who is this?
DJ: This is Dwayne Johnson.
* long pause
Aldis: Whoever this is, stop playing on my phone.
DJ: This is Dwayne, is this Aldis?
* longer pause
Aldis: This shit ain’t funny, I said stop playing on my fucking phone.
DJ: Aldis, this is DJ. I just called to say thank you so much for sending in your audition—it was great and I really appreciate the efforts you made. Just wanted to say thanks and best of luck in all you do. And one more thing—welcome to Black Adam.
* longest pause
Aldis: I’m sorry you’ll have to hold on for a one second.
* he puts the phone down and walks away and all I hear is inaudible yells 😂
Aldis: DJAYYYY OHHHHH SHIT!!!!!!
* I’m laughing my ass off by now.
DJ: You ok? You’re gonna crush this role!
“So the cat’s out of the bag. @therock, it’s going to be an honor to join you, @ncentineo and the #BlackAdam/#DCU family,” Hodge posted on his own Instagram page, tagging Johnson and Noah Centineo, the latter of whom will be portraying Atom Smasher.
Hodge is extra hot right now (he’s hot in another way, too! *wink*) as he co-stars in Regina King’s feature directorial debut One Night in Miami, which is getting plenty of buzz. We look forward to seeing Hodge in action when the trailer releases!