Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was prepared for one thing extra.
After turning into essentially the most electrifying man in sports activities leisure, Johnson took Hollywood by storm and shortly grew to become one of many business’s greatest motion stars, harkening again to the times when names like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone dominated the field workplace. Alongside the best way, Johnson has established himself as one of the crucial bankable film stars on the planet, along with his movies grossing over $12.5 billion.
However as a lot as ‘The Rock’ loves making the big-budget summer season blockbuster movies, he was prepared for a unique problem.
Enter, The Smashing Machine, an bold biopic concerning the life and instances of combined martial arts legend Mark Kerr.
“I had been wanting for years now to chase the problem and be impressed by the problem,” Johnson instructed Pat McAfee. “I really like making the larger blockbuster films. They’re lots of enjoyable. They’re laborious as sh*t to make, and lots of people take pleasure in them, hopefully, knock on wooden, around the globe. However I wished extra. I wished a problem, and I simply wished the chance to vanish into one thing and disappear into an element and a task that might actually problem me in ways in which I’ve by no means been challenged earlier than.
“And on prime of that, I do know it sounds loopy, however to be nervous. In a approach, you’re buzzy. ‘How am I going to do that? I don’t know the way to do that?’ That occurred on The Smashing Machine with Benny Safdie and A24 and, in fact, Emily Blunt” (h/t MMA Combating).
‘The Rock’ might be joined by a slew of fight sports activities stars in ‘The Smashing Machine’
Produced by A24, the corporate behind Finest Image winner All the pieces In every single place All At As soon as, and director Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems), The Smashing Machine is about to hit theaters on October 3, 2025.
Along with ‘The Rock’ and his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt, the movie additionally stars former Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, who performs UFC Corridor of Famer and Kerr’s buddy Mark Coleman, together with a number of different notable fight sports activities figures, together with heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk, Satoshi Ishii, James Moontasri, Andre Tricoteux, and former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten.