As a former WWE athlete-turned-actor, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has at all times been recognized for his huge body. Nevertheless his newest transformation for the upcoming drama The Smashing Machine is subsequent stage. As a part of a recent take a look at Johnson in character and almost unrecognizable as MMA legend Mark Kerr, behind-the-scenes pictures for the 2025 film launch showcase Johnson’s tree trunk legs. And, if this does not boost your day, I do not know what is going to.
The pics, shared completely by Self-importance Truthful’s official Instagram, spotlight simply how bodily intense the Jumanji actor’s prep has been for his upcoming film. One shot, which you’ll be able to see for your self beneath, reveals him sitting on a fitness center mat, drenched in sweat, his legs trying as in the event that they’re carved from granite:
Let’s be sincere—these legs deserve a second of their very own. It is clear Johnson by no means skips leg day, even becoming in midnight exercises. Nevertheless, these stills make it apparent the person has taken lower-body coaching to a near-mythical stage.
This isn’t the primary time Johnson’s legs have made headlines. We’ve coated tales earlier than the place we needed to cease and marvel at his “tree trunks,” and it’s no secret that the actor takes pleasure in constructing roles from the bottom up, fairly actually. Whether or not it’s bulking up for Black Adam or chopping down for Hobbs & Shaw, the actor’s stage of bodily dedication stays unmatched, and it’s a part of why audiences purchase into him as an motion star.
In fact, The Smashing Machine isn’t nearly trying the half. The movie tells the story of Mark Kerr, a embellished MMA fighter whose profession was outlined as a lot by his struggles outdoors the ring as by his triumphs inside it.
Based on Self-importance Truthful, The Rock admitted that taking over Kerr’s story got here with an unfamiliar emotion: worry. It’s not a sense the Moana star is accustomed to, and he acknowledged that a part of the explanation he hasn’t been supplied extra advanced roles up to now is on him. Initially uncertain if he was able to embody the real-life fighter in Benny Safdie’s movie, the Strolling Tall star advised the outlet:
It was very actual. I had not skilled that in a really, very, very very long time, the place I used to be actually scared and pondering, ‘I don’t know if I can do that. Can I do that?’
It wasn’t till Safdie’s Uncut Gems caught the California-born performer’s eye that he apparently modified his tune about taking over the position. With that, he is seemingly introduced his signature depth to the venture, and he is aiming for a grounded and visceral tackle Kerr’s story.
The Rock credit co-star Emily Blunt for serving to him entry the emotional vulnerability required for the position. He continued with Self-importance Truthful:
If Emily and I weren’t finest buddies, I don’t know that we might’ve gone to the locations we went to. That closeness created the belief, which then allowed for the vulnerability, which then allowed for [us to] go anyplace.
The upcoming A24 launch is about to premiere over Labor Day weekend on the Venice Movie Competition earlier than being launched to broader audiences later this 12 months. With Safdie behind the digital camera, Johnson in what could also be his most transformative position but and Blunt bringing emotional weight to the story, this could possibly be one of many fall’s most talked-about movies.
For the Black Adam actor, the position marks a pointy departure from the blockbuster charisma and motion film bravado which have outlined his profession. Right here, he’s portraying a person battling internal demons as fiercely as his opponents within the cage.
The primary-look photos recommend an unflinching efficiency and, whereas early buzz for The Smashing Machine has been sturdy, audiences who want just a little reminder of why Dwayne Johnson’s legs have their very own gravitational pull must do with the BTS pics. That’s till the film releases on October third, in fact.