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The actor Dwayne Johnson, who began his career as wrestler The Rock, is to co-author a nonfiction book about a Hawaii crime syndicate in the 1960s and 1970s.
Writing on Instagram, Johnson said he was “super grateful to co-author my next project (a nonfiction book) with award-winning investigative journalist, @NickBilton.
“Nick and I have worked on this for months now, with many more months of work ahead of us – this has already been such an unbelievable, inspiring and eye-opening experience.”
Crown, the Penguin House imprint, has acquired rights to the as yet untitled book, which will “serve as an inspiration” for a film directed by Martin Scorsese, which is being scripted by Bilton and Johnson. Johnson will co-star with his Jungle Cruise collaborator Emily Blunt, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio.
The book will chronicle “the extraordinary story of the rise and fall of Hawaii’s most notorious crime syndicate, The Company, led by Wilford “Nappy” Pulawa, the first and only Hawaiian mob boss in history”.
As well as echoing the themes of some of Scorsese’s best-known gangster films, the story appears to also share common ground with his most recent fictional feature, Killers of the Flower Moon, about the plight of the Osage people in 1920s America.
The new book, says a statement, “aims to shed light not only on this chapter of American history but on Hawaii’s systematic theft by outsiders through the lens of this unique era.”
Said Johnson: “This isn’t just a gangster story – it’s about power, identity, and what was taken from the Hawaiian people. What drew me to this project wasn’t just the action and the intensity. My own family lived through parts of this era, and I’ve seen first-hand the complicated legacy it left behind. Telling this story is a way to honour our Polynesian culture, and honour where we come from and share the untold history of what really happened in paradise.
“My formative years were spent growing up in Honolulu, Hawai’i and this story is very personal – the more exhaustive research we do and people we speak to – the more I shake my head at how wildly and profoundly connected we all were. And still are.”
Johnson made his nonfiction debut with a 2000 memoir, The Rock Says … which chronicles his pre-Hollywood life as well as sharing extensive life lessons and mottoes.
Now 52, Johnson is one of the most financially successful film stars of all time thanks to his work on the Fast & Furious franchise and Disney’s Moana animations.
His next film project is The Smashing Machine, an A24 sports biopic from Uncut Gems’ Benny Safdie in which he plays MMA fighter Mark Kerr, with Blunt playing his wife, Dawn.
