2 weeks ago
3
By Lindsey Bahr
September 2, 2025 — 2.43pm
Venice: Dwayne Johnson takes a serious turn as UFC fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, which had its world premiere on Monday (local time) at the Venice Film Festival.
The film, which won a 15-minute standing ovation after the screening, has sparked serious Oscar buzz for Johnson and co-star Emily Blunt.
Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson attend the Venice premiere of The Smashing Machine. Credit: Getty Images
“I have for a long time wanted this,” Johnson said before the premiere. “The transformation part was something I was really hungry to do. I’ve been very fortunate to have the career that I’ve had and make the films that I have, but there was just this voice inside of me, this little voice, like ‘what if I can do more’.”
The actor, best known for big budget action movies and comedies, is already sparking Oscar buzz for his transformation in the film from Benny Safdie. The festival has launched several recent best actor Oscar winners, from Brendan Fraser in The Whale to Adrien Brody in The Brutalist. Like both of those films, The Smashing Machine is being released by A24.
“The box office in our business is very loud,” Johnson said. “And it can push you into a category and into a corner: This is your lane, this is what you do, this is what people want you to be in and this is what Hollywood wants you to be. And I understood that. And I made those movies, and I like them and they were fun. And some were really good and did well and some not so good.”
Director Benny Safdie with stars Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson, and the subject of their film, Mark Kerr at the premiere.Credit: Getty Images
But he felt like he had more to give, not to prove something to Hollywood, but to himself. The push to take on a new challenge came in part from his co-star and friend Emily Blunt, with whom he worked in Jungle Cruise, and who encouraged him to draw on everything he’d gone through in life and put it into his work.
“When you’ve been pigeonholed into something, it’s hard to know, ‘wait, can I do that?’,” he said. “Sometimes it takes people you know and love, like Emily and Benny, to say you can.”
Johnson was joined in Venice not only by Safdie and Blunt, but also the man he’s portraying in the film. Kerr is a two-time UFC heavyweight tournament winner and an MMA fighter who retired in 2009. Known as “The Smashing Machine”, Kerr also struggled with addiction to painkillers and opioids, overdosing twice.
Before Johnson was best known as the star of franchises such as Jumanji and the Fast & Furious series, as well as a producer and a business owner, he made his name in wrestling. The third-generation wrestler won eight WWE championships.
“I loved wrestling and I had such a great time, but it’s very bombastic,” Johnson said.
He remembered meeting Kerr in the late 1990s and said how much he looked up to him. This film, he said, feels like a full circle moment.
The Smashing Machine takes place between the years 1997 and 2000, a tumultuous time in both Kerr’s professional and personal life. His relationship with then girlfriend Dawn Staples was particularly volatile.
Blunt got to know and spend time with her counterpart as well. She said she was excited to show the “full weather system” of a relationship.
“I’ve been part of a lot of relationships that are essentially more curated to a movie, a moviefied relationship,” Blunt said. “This felt like the full spectrum of what a relationship really looks like. Because humans change within the hour. I think we got to show that.”
She said it was extraordinary and a little “spooky” to see Johnson fully disappear into this role. The prosthetics were designed by master make-up artist Kazu Hiro, who helped Bradley Cooper turn into Leonard Bernstein and Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera last week said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Johnson, whom he called “absolutely amazing” in the film, and Blunt among the Oscar nominees next year.
Johnson said: “I’ve been scared to go deep and go intense and go raw until now, until I’ve had this opportunity.”
Both Johnson and Safdie said Kerr had changed their lives.
Loading
“It’s such a beautiful thing to shine a light on him and learn from his experiences,” Safdie said.
Safdie, also an actor, recently appeared in Oppenheimer and Happy Gilmore 2. As a filmmaker, along with his brother Josh, he co-directed Uncut Gems.
In his director’s statement for The Smashing Machine, Safdie calls the title “a perfect onomatopoeia for something visual, conjuring images of domination and destruction with ease”.
The film is playing in the main competition. Titles such as Frankenstein, Bugonia, The Voice of Hind Rajab, La Grazia and No Other Choice are also vying for the top prizes, including acting and directing awards. Winners will be announced on September 6.
The Smashing Machine will open in Australia on October 2.
Associated Press
Most Viewed in Culture
Loading
