How Dwayne Johnson Indirectly Helped Mick Foley Score A Role On Avatar: The Last Airbender
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Wrestlers and Hollywood have been tied together for decades, and with names such as The Rock, Batista, and John Cena continuing to break records, becoming even bigger stars outside the wrestling ring, fans will always wonder who the next breakout star will be. Looking to a smaller scale, during the early 2000s, one of the most popular, fan-favorite names from WWE's Attitude Era would get a chance to portray a recurring character on the hit animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Mick Foley, WWE Legend, would get the role of The Boulder, a parody of longtime friend and peer, Dwayne Johnson, on the show, leading to one of his most notable pieces of work outside the wrestling ring. How did it come together though? Thanks to some indirect help from The Rock, Foley would get the voice acting role and would get the chance to pay homage to his friend.
Boulder In 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Was Based On The Rock
For those unfamiliar with Avatar: The Last Airbender, it was an animated television show that aired on Nickelodeon during the 2000s. Based off of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the character of Boulder was a professional wrestler in the world of Avatar who possessed Earthbending abilities. Sharing a similar look and speaking mannerisms as The Rock, it was clear to longtime wrestling fans that this character was based off of The Great One. Even his stage name being "The Boulder" was a direct reference to the WWE legend, as was the mocked version of his name that Toph gave him during a wrestling match at the Earth Rumble event, as he was jokingly dubbed, "The Pebble".
While some may have expected such a character to only appear as a one-off side character, The Boulder would make sporadic appearances throughout the show after first appearing. Debuting during season two of Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Boulder would return for a few episodes in the following season, taking part in a major war storyline during the Invasion of the Fire Nation arc. On top of this, he would appear in other Avatar-related media including two different comic runs, with Toph & The Boulder being the main one.
Mick Foley Voiced The Character Of Boulder
While some fans may have expected Avatar: The Last Airbender to use Dwayne Johnson himself or another big-time, macho man to portray the voice of The Boulder, that would not be the case. The creators of the show would share that they did at one time try to get Johnson for the role, though it failed to come together in the end. However, the casting team behind the show did not turn away from the squared circle and would instead cast another former WWE wrestler to play the role of their parody character of The Rock.
Longtime friend and peer of Dwayne Johnson, Mick Foley, would be cast as the voice actor for The Boulder. It would be a surreal moment for fans of the show that also happened to be wrestling fans, as it meant that Foley, someone who portrayed a character in WWE so tied to The Rock, would get the chance to play a role totally inspired by Dwayne on a major television program. This would not be the only acting role that Foley would get outside of WWE either, as he would also eventually star in 30 Rock, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and the new Stephen Amell wrestling show, Heels.
Mick Foley's Relationship With The Rock Helped Him Get Cast
Following Dwayne Johnson not being available or not being able to come to terms in order to play the character of The Boulder on Avatar: The Last Airbender, the creators of the show would look elsewhere. With Mick Foley being so tied to The Rock, both inside of the ring and out, he would be given the chance to portray the character. It fit that he also happened to be a wrestler instead of just a friend of The Rock, as most fans associate the two men's wrestling careers with one another. Thanks to Johnson not playing the role, Foley's portrayal of the character would become a fan-favorite for fans of the show and would allow the superstar to get a chance to shine outside the wrestling ring, while still getting to play a fictional wrestler in the process, that also honored The Great One in a funny manner.
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