Dwayne Johnson Promises to Honor Robin Williams in ‘Jumanji’ Reboot

Dwayne Johnson promises to honor Robin Williams in the upcoming Jumanji reboot.

As Dwayne Johnson prepares to star in the upcoming Jumanji reboot, The Rock has vowed to honor the original movie’s beloved star, the late Robin Williams.

Related: Dwayne Johnson To Star in ‘Jumanji’ Reboot

“The love and respect I have for this man is boundless,” Johnson wrote in a touching Instagram post. “You have my word, we will honor his name and the character of Alan Parrish will stand alone and be forever immortalized in the world of Jumanji in an earnest and cool way. I have an idea of what to do and I think his family will be proud.”

Johnson and his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, are working with director Jake Kasdan on the remake of the hit 1995 movie, Jumanji. Robin Williams played one of his most memorable characters – a man who was trapped inside a board game for nearly three decades. Even though Robin Williams died at the young age of 63 two years ago, Johnson plans to honor the Hollywood icon and believes Williams would give his blessing to star in the remake.

Related: Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson Could Star in ‘Jumanji’ Reboot

“I also think Robin is somewhere lookin’ down and laughing, remembering the first time we met backstage and I (for the first time ever) was a starstruck bumbling idiot that couldn’t even get my words out. Idiot,” the Baywatch star continued. “He literally calmed me down with that smile and laugh.”

Filming is expected to start this fall. Johnson also announced that “cool casting announcements” should be released later on this week. “In the original movie there were three big roles. In our new story there’s now five. Been so damn cool to see all my actor buddies push their projects aside so hopefully they can come play in our world,” he wrote.

And the #JUMANJI magic begins. Excellent meeting with our director Jake Kasdan, producer Matt Tolmach, and our @SevenBucksProd team to work on our new re-imagining of this amazing story. I felt like in order to craft something cool we should begin where it all started. Award winning writer Chris Van Allsburg’s source material of JUMANJI. Chris also wrote THE POLAR EXPRESS (later adapted by Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks) and has a very special & magical way of storytelling. I’m feelin’ good and confident stepping into these shoes as a producer as well as actor to bring you something great that you and your entire fam can enjoy. An important thing that I want to be honest and bring up is Robin Williams. The love and respect I have for this man is boundless. You have my word, we will honor his name and the character of “Alan Parrish” will stand alone and be forever immortalized in the world of JUMANJI in an earnest and cool way. I have an idea of what to do and I think his family will be proud. I also think Robin is somewhere lookin’ down and laughing, remembering the first time we met backstage and I (for the first time ever) was a star struck bumbling idiot that couldn’t even get my words out. Idiot. He literally calmed me down w/ that smile and laugh. But that’s for another fun story down the road. We got a great team assembled already over at our home base of SONY and now we build from here. Here’s another fun part… in the original movie there were three big roles. In our new story there’s now FIVE. Been so damn cool to see all my actor buddies push their projects aside so hopefully they can come play in our world. Should have cool casting announcements this week. Will keep you posted. #TheMagicBegins #JustPressStart #JUMANJI

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on May 9, 2016 at 10:23am PDT

Related: The Rise of Hollywood Reboots and How To Make It Stop

Dwayne Johnson is currently filming Baywatch in Savannah, Georgia and will move on to Fast & Furious 8 in Atlanta.

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