Dwayne Johnson or Mark Wahlberg for Michael Bay’s ‘Pain & Gain’?

Over the summer, we learned that explosive director Michael Bay would finally get behind the camera for his relatively low budget dark comedy Pain and Gain, the story of a couple of steroid-abusing knucklehead bodybuilders from Florida who become criminals involved in an extortion ring and a kidnapping plot that all goes horribly wrong. Now Variety has word on the frontrunners to lead the film with Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, who both shared the screen briefly in The Other Guys, both being lined up. As of now Johnson’s talks with Bay are further along with Wahlberg merely circling the film. Wahlberg’s casting will depend on his future schedule which is actually relatively full. Right now the actor is attached to an adaptation of 2 Guns and the Thanksgiving football comedy Three Mississippi from director Adam McKay. The stars certainly sounds like the kind of talent that Bay usually attracts but …