Dwayne Johnson is smashing stereotypes with A24 function “The Smashing Machine.” The actor, who is about to additionally star in Martin Scorsese’s Hawaii-set true crime mob drama, is first making his indie debut with Benny Safdie’s biopic about UFC legend Mark Kerr. Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksandr Usyk co-star.
Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions acquired the rights to “The Smashing Machine” in 2019. A24 later joined as a accomplice in 2023. Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions produce alongside Safdie’s Out for the Depend banner, Eli Bush, Hiram Garcia, and David Koplan. The movie marks Safdie’s first solo directing effort sans brother Josh Safdie; Benny Safdie additionally penned the script based mostly on Kerr’s real-life story and rise within the UFC. Per the preliminary A24 announcement, Johnson’s most dramatic challenge but follows MMA fighter Kerr’s profession peak throughout the “no-holds-barred period of the UFC” in 2000. Kerr was a two-time UFC Heavyweight Match Champion who infamously struggled with an dependancy to painkillers. Kerr was beforehand the topic of the 2002 documentary, additionally titled “The Smashing Machine,” which detailed his MMA profession combating in Vale Tudo, the UFC, and PRIDE.
Safdie beforehand advised GQ that Johnson offers a profession greatest flip as Kerr.
“You actually perceive the fears, the love, the disappointment, the happiness,” Safdie mentioned. “If any individual’s open to doing that and speaking about that stuff, then they’re going to have the ability to give an incredible efficiency. Due to how bodily sturdy he’s, I don’t know if lots of people give him that chance.”
Johnson added, “It’s such a psychological factor right here. However , from the second I stroll out of my home, I can’t conceal. However in a approach, once I may disappear in a film like ‘Smashing Machine,’ and a number of the different issues now that we’re growing, the place it’s going to enable me to vanish, with a Benny once more or an A24… Man, I adore it.”
Johnson additionally mentioned to Selection that whereas he’s not “abandon[ing] large, four-quadrant motion pictures,” he’s trying to have “extra” for his profession. “I would like extra humanity. And that’s the reason Benny Safdie is the proper, collaborative, hungry accomplice for me,” he mentioned. “Benny desires to create, and continues to push the envelope in the case of tales which are uncooked and actual, characters which are genuine and at instances uncomfortable and arresting. I’m at a degree in my profession the place I wish to push myself in ways in which I’ve not pushed myself up to now. I’m at a degree in my profession the place I wish to make movies that matter, that discover a humanity and discover battle [and] ache.”
“The Smashing Machine” premieres in theaters October 3 from A24. Try the trailer under.