Dwayne Johnson to Star as Motorcycle Stuntman With Dementia in ‘Free Byrd’ From ‘Sing Sing’ Director Greg Kwedar

Dwayne Johnson is going to star in and produce the new action-drama movie called "Free Byrd." This film is the latest project from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production company, Artists Equity.

In "Free Byrd," Johnson plays a motorcycle stuntman from Las Vegas who hides his dementia diagnosis from everyone, including his brother, who is a mechanic.

He takes huge risks for one final jump.The movie's logline says it looks at the big mysteries of the mind and the importance of asking for help before it's too late.

Greg Kwedar, who has been nominated for two Academy Awards for "Sing Sing" and "Train Dreams," is directing "Free Byrd" and rewriting the script.

The original script was written by Jon Boyer and was on the Black List.An earlier version of the script was written by Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson, who also made "The Peanut Butter Falcon."

This news comes as Johnson, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for "The Smashing Machine," is ready to start working on his next movie, Disney's live-action version of "Moana." He will also appear in "Jumanji: Open World" and the upcoming film "Lizard Music," which was written and directed by Benny Safdie.

Johnson said, "Free Byrd" is a special project for many reasons.

He described it as showing both the beautiful and difficult parts of life.The story has become very personal to him and Greg Kwedar as they work on the film together.He also praised Artists Equity for being great partners who share the vision for the movie and have a personal connection to the story.He added that when someone close to you starts to lose their mind, life takes on a whole new meaning.

Gil Netter, who was nominated for an Academy Award for "Life of Pi" and "The Blind Side," first brought "Free Byrd" to Artists Equity and will be a producer.

Other producers include Fifth Season, which worked with Artists Equity on "Animals" for Netflix; Johnson through his company Seven Bucks Productions; and Kwedar along with Clint Bentley, who has been nominated for two Academy Awards, for their production company Ethos.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who are the CEO and Chief Content Officer of Artists Equity, said, "This is a project that all of us at the company have connected with personally.

Greg is one of the most exciting writer-directors working today, and Dwayne is an extraordinary talent and person.We are extremely excited that they have chosen to make this with us and very much look forward to sharing the finished film with audiences."