This article is more than 18 years old

This article is more than 18 years old

A row has erupted in Hawaii over plans to cast former wrestler The Rock as a legendary Hawaiian king for a new film.

Producers want the musclebound star of The Mummy Returns and prequel The Scorpion King - real name Dwayne Johnson - to play warrior-king Kamehameha who ruled the islands from 1795 to 1819 and is renowned in the region as a national hero.

Johnson, it appears, has Samoan blood in his veins - as well as African American heritage - and this has upset some locals because the two nations were fearsome enemies during the period of Kamehameha's rule.

There are now plans to produce a second film about the king, this time featuring a Hawaiian actor.

Gary German, a principal with California-based North Shore Pictures Entertainment Inc, which is backing the second venture, said: "It would be a great taboo for the part to go to a nationality that was a fierce enemy of the Hawaiians during that time. We are looking at actors of Hawaiian descent who will make a great Kamehameha."

Meanwhile Christopher Walken has signed to star opposite Johnson in a Universal Pictures action-adventure project tentatively titled Helldorado for director Peter Berg, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Walken will play the evil boss of Helldorado, a town in the Amazon jungle where Johnson's bounty hunter travels to settle an old debt. American Pie's Seann William Scott is also in talks to feature in the movie.