Dwayne Johnson had extensive Oscar-hosting plans before turning down the gig: "I was going to sing"

The Hollywood Reporter

The actor tweeted Wednesday he was the first choice to host the Oscars last fall. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson revealed he met multiple times with Academy Awards producers Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss, even going so far to assemble a team that helped him create specific bits and performance numbers. “I was so excited to get that call, and I didn’t anticipate it,” said Johnson, who was interviewed at the Sundance Film Festival “We didn't campaign for it, but it came and I was over the moon and one of those calls where I said, I'm going to have to call you back. I just paused in my silence and was like, wow thank you so much, and then immediately my brain started going, we'll do this kind of number and that.” Johnson was too busy working on a Fast and the Furious spinoff and a Jumanji sequel to commit to hosting. “We spoke to the producers and it pained me not to be able to host because of the schedule,” he said. Johnson said of his Oscar-hosting plans: “I had this whole idea about this massive number, and I was going to sing and I was going to bring in this person to sing, this person from the audience, and … Oh my god. And they were excited, but finally I had to pass.”