Dwayne Johnson has largely been pigeonholed throughout his performing profession as an motion star able to hitting comedic beats however hardly ever going exterior his consolation zone on the subject of the roles he chooses. That each one adjustments with the discharge of The Smashing Machine, a biopic the place Johnson performs MMA legend Mark Kerr, with the movie set for its debut on the Venice Movie Competition in September.
After watching the 2002 documentary detailing Kerr’s battle with dependancy from ache medicine years earlier, Johnson at all times envisioned himself enjoying the lead function however timing simply by no means labored out for the movie to occur. Lastly, Johnson acquired the prospect to maneuver ahead on the undertaking after the worldwide pandemic ended and he teamed up with Uncut Gems filmmaker Benny Safdie to direct the movie.
Regardless of The Smashing Machine being his ardour undertaking for over a decade, Johnson admits he nonetheless wasn’t certain he might pull off enjoying Kerr within the film.
“It was very actual,” Johnson mentioned about his nerves for the function when talking to Vainness Truthful. “I had not skilled that in a really, very, very very long time, the place I used to be actually scared and considering, I don’t know if I can do that. Can I do that? I noticed that perhaps these alternatives weren’t coming my means as a result of I used to be too scared to discover these items.”
To painting a former MMA champion, Johnson educated extensively to make sure the motion sequences performed out correctly however the actual trick as really making his personal bodily transformation into Kerr.
Johnson revealed he underwent a number of hours of make-up each single day on set however that point allowed him to get within the psychological headspace the place he was enjoying an actual individual and never some scripted character from a screenplay.
“I simply sat in entrance of that mirror for 3 to 4 hours and watched all of it change,” Johnson mentioned in regards to the course of to appear like Kerr. “There have been about 13 or 14 completely different prosthetics. Refined, but I feel very impactful. By the point I acquired to set, I used to be Mark Kerr and I felt it, from how he walked to how he talked and the way he checked out life.”
That bodily transformation made him appear like Kerr however Johnson admits the actual take a look at was really enjoying the half, particularly the emotionally charged scenes he shared with shut pal Emily Blunt, who performs Daybreak Staples, Kerr’s actual life girlfriend who additionally appeared within the documentary.
“If Emily and I weren’t greatest buddies, I don’t know that we might’ve gone to the locations we went to,” Johnson mentioned. “That closeness created the belief, which then allowed for the vulnerability, which then allowed for [us to] go anyplace.”
Blunt, who was only in the near past nominated for an Academy Award for her work within the movie Oppenheimer, praised Johnson’s performing abilities the place they actually needed to belief one another for some heavy scenes.
“It gave the impression to be a simple immersion—like a full disappearance, spooky,” Blunt mentioned about Johnson’s efficiency. “From day one, he was elsewhere. He has absorbed and borne witness to a lot of what Mark has skilled that it was such a lovely factor to observe this individual let go of getting to be a picture, of getting to be The Rock, and crack himself in half for this function.”
The hype round The Smashing Machine might probably result in the award circuit in 2026, particularly contemplating the movie is being produced by A24 — a boutique, impartial studio recognized for gathering trophies.
For the primary time in his profession, Johnson is discovering himself in these conversations as effectively.
“There’s a tune from George Strait known as ‘The place Have I Been All My Life?’ This jogged my memory of that,” Johnson mentioned. “The place have I been? The factor I used to be fearing is the factor that really provides me the best peace—a secure place to discover all these items that I’ve skilled through the years. I’ve a spot to place it.”
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