Dwayne Johnson says director Tim Burton considered him for role of Willy Wonka

The Rock shocked fans with the surprising news in an Instagram post shared on Monday

Dwayne Johnson said he was considered for the lead role in Tim Burton’s 2005 film adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The actor revealed the news in an Instagram post shared with his 191.5 million followers on Monday.

In a caption, the former wrestler praised the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder as one of his “all time fav films”. Johnson then disclosed that he went in for the role of the famous candy man himself in Burton's 2005 adaptation.

Johnson wrote, “Some cool history – back in the early 2000’s, iconic director, Tim Burton had considered me to play Willy Wonka in his remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

He continued, “I remember thinking ‘HOLY S***, I’M IN. But that was many years ago when I was just starting out in Hollywood, with no foundation of global box office strength or any real acting experience to pull it off.”

The role was eventually given to Johnny Depp, who had previously been cast in many of Burton's films. By 2005, the duo had already worked together on Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and Sleepy Hollow.

“The fact that Tim even considered me (albeit I’m sure he considered for all of 7 seconds) sure meant a helluva lot to me as I was just breaking into the business with no idea what the future had in store,” said the Jumanji actor.

“I’ll always raise a glass to the dreams that don’t come true, because sometimes they’re the best thing that never happened. #BigBrownBaldTattooedWonka”.

Since the post was shared, it has received over 430,000 likes.