‘The Smashing Machine’ First Look: Dwayne Johnson Returns to His Wrestling Roots for Benny Safdie’s Biopic
Samantha Bergeson
Dwayne Johnson is reminding fans of his original “The Rock” title for his indie moment in “The Smashing Machine.”
Johnson stars as MMA legend Mark Kerr, who infamously struggled with an addiction to painkillers. Benny Safdie marks his solo directorial debut with the A24 feature. Safdie penned the script based on Kerr’s real-life story and rise in the UFC. Per the initial A24 announcement, Johnson’s most dramatic project yet follows MMA fighter Kerr’s career peak during the “no-holds-barred era of the UFC” in 2000. Kerr was a two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion.
Kerr was previously the subject of the 2002 documentary also titled “The Smashing Machine,” which detailed his MMA career fighting in Vale Tudo, the UFC, and PRIDE.
Johnson and Safdie have been collaborators on the project since Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions acquired the rights in 2019. A24 later joined as a partner in 2023. Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions will produce alongside Safdie’s Out for the Count banner, Eli Bush, and David Koplan.
Johnson told Variety that the COVID-19 pandemic at first threatened to shelve “The Smashing Machine.” Yet Safdie and Johnson were both determined to capture Kerr’s story onscreen, especially after Johnson’s frequent collaborator Emily Blunt starred alongside Safdie in “Oppenheimer” and later joined “The Smashing Machine” cast. Johnson also is making his indie film debut with the biopic.
“I want to be clear not to say that this is an abandonment of big, four-quadrant movies. I love making them, and there is tremendous value and importance in [them],” Johnson said. “But there’s a time and a place for them. I’m at this point in my career where I want more. And I don’t mean I want more box office. I mean I want more humanity. And that is why Benny Safdie is the perfect, collaborative, hungry partner for me. Benny wants to create, and continues to push the envelope when it comes to stories that are raw and real, characters that are authentic and at times uncomfortable and arresting.”
Johnson added, “I’m at a point in my career where I want to push myself in ways that I’ve not pushed myself in the past. I’m at a point in my career where I want to make films that matter, that explore a humanity and explore struggle [and] pain.”
Check out the first look at “The Smashing Machine” above.
