Dwayne Johnson, arguably the busiest person in Hollywood, set aside some time to film a video for Emily Blunt. At the time, he was attached to star in Jungle Cruise, which various producers had been trying to get off the ground at Disney since at least 2004, after the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie revealed the moneymaking potential of a theme park ride reimagined as a film franchise.
When Disney tested the film, which was shot and almost completely finished before the pandemic, they found that what audiences wanted most, more than spectacle, was the scenes of repartee between the two leads. Coming soon to theaters!