Key Takeaways

• Dwayne Johnson takes on a dramatic role in The Smashing Machine.
• Johnson felt nervous about portraying UFC champion Mike Kerr.
• Emily Blunt highlights Johnson’s previous typecasting as a hero.
• The film premieres at the Venice International Film Festival on September 1.

Dwayne Johnson has been in the entertainment business for decades, but he rarely tackles a purely dramatic role. That all changes with the upcoming debut of The Smashing Machine, a sports drama from writer/director Benny Safdie about two-time UFC heavyweight champion Mike Kerr. While speaking with Vanity Fair, Johnson confessed he felt very nervous about tackling the role, something he hasn’t had to deal with for a long time.

“It was very real. I had not experienced that in a very, very, very long time, where I was really scared and thinking, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. Can I do this?’” Johnson said. “I realized that maybe these opportunities weren’t coming my way because I was too scared to explore this stuff… I was so hungry for an opportunity to do something raw and gritty and rip myself open. And all of a sudden, ‘Smashing Machine’ comes along.“

Emily Blunt, who also stars as Kerr’s wife Dawn Staples, added that Johnson “has been pigeonholed into the image of the big hero who’s got all the answers and he’s going to fix everything and he’s invincible. I think until this moment, maybe he thought that was the only lane that people wanted to see him in.“

Johnson spent “three to four hours” in the makeup chair each morning to transform into Mark Kerr. “There were about 13 or 14 different prosthetics. Subtle, yet I think very impactful,” Johnson said. “By the time I got to set, I was Mark Kerr and I felt it, from how he walked to how he talked and how he looked at life… If Emily and I weren’t best friends, I don’t know that we could’ve gone to the places we went to. That closeness created the trust, which then allowed for the vulnerability, which then allowed for us to go anywhere.“

Johnson continued, “You have to be willing to tap into all the stuff that you’ve gone through, and this was stuff that I had not explored on camera or otherwise. I’m not a big therapy person, even though I’m an advocate for whatever it is you need. I found it so scary, but also so nourishing and freeing. I ripped it open.“

It certainly seems as though we’ll see a very different side of Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine, and there has even been a little Oscar buzz surrounding his performance. The film will have its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on September 1 before hitting theaters on October 3.