The hype is building for The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing early mixed martial arts legend Mark Kerr.
The film releases this weekend and already it’s being touted as a future Oscar contender, with Johnson in particular getting plenty of award buzz in the starring role as Kerr.
To help promote the movie, Johnson and Kerr gave a joint interview to Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated, where they discussed the making of the film and the bond between the two men.
Johnson shared that he had first won the rights to Kerr’s story for a movie in 2019, but that the idea was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a few years passed, everyone involved revisited the project. And for Johnson, it was an opportunity to break out in a more serious role than his blockbuster action movies and comedies. He even said that making the film and everything that it means has turned it into “more than a movie.”
And years later, I realized how personal it was. I realized that I needed to tell this story, because I have a profound respect for Mark and MMA and all the men and women who give it up and leave it all in the cage or in the ring. But in addition to that, I felt that I needed to break free and make this kind of film where I could dive deep and I could test and challenge myself. And I could get really raw and rip myself open, with a costar, who I’ve known and been best friends with for many, many years in Emily Blunt.
[…]
Yes. It’s turned into more than a movie. It represents me, ready to break out of the infrastructure that has surrounded me for a long time, making these big movies—that I’ve loved and they’re fun—but I always felt there’s a voice behind my rib cage telling me, “There’s more, right? There’s more to do.”
For many years, The Rock has been established as the world’s biggest movie star. It’s an incredible story for a man who made his name in the pro wrestling industry. But while his movie career has been unquestionably successful, he’s often been typecasted in certain roles that played off his professional wrestling character as an action star or showing off his comedic skills. While he has certainly raked it in at the box office thanks to huge movies like Moana, there’s also busts in his filmography like Black Adam.
But clearly playing Mark Kerr means a lot to Dwayne Johnson. Both men share a bond hailing from different sides of the combat world, but still sharing much in common. As Kerr explains in the SI piece, the extent to which Johnson worked to copy his body, his mannerisms, and even his way of speaking is tremendous.
As successful as he has been in Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson has rarely been mentioned in the category of great actors. The Smashing Machine is clearly designed to showcase The Rock in a new way as a thespian. And from all accounts, it appears that he has accomplished that goal.
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