Actor makes major dramatic bid as UFC fighter Mark Kerr in biopic also starring his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt aim for awards glory with the first trailer for fact-based sports drama The Smashing Machine.
The wrestler-turned-actor plays the MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the film inspired by the 2002 documentary with the same name. Kerr won multiple awards and medals in his career and also struggled with substance abuse.
The film also explores his relationship with his then girlfriend, played by Emily Blunt. The pair previously starred in Disney adventure Jungle Cruise.
It comes from the writer-director Benny Safdie, marking his first solo effort behind the camera. Together with his brother, he received acclaim for crime dramas Good Times and Uncut Gems.
“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 said to Variety in 2024. “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.”
The actor also made it clear that this does not represent “an abandonment of big, four-quadrant movies”.
In December last year, Blunt called it “an incredibly immersive, very intense, very emotional experience” and Safdie a “very cool, aesthetically exciting, visual director”.
Last year Johnson led Christmas action comedy Red One and will next be seen in the live-action remake of Moana.
He was also recently attached to another film with Blunt, a Hawaii-set crime thriller from Martin Scorsese that will also star Leonardo DiCaprio. Johnson will co-author a true crime book on the same subject, calling it “an unbelievable, inspiring and eye-opening experience”.
Blunt was last seen alongside Ryan Gosling in The Fall Guy after she received her first Oscar nomination for Oppenheimer. The actor is also set to appear in Steven Spielberg’s next untitled film, a mysterious sci-fi project also starring Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson and Colman Domingo.
The Smashing Machine will be released in the US and the UK on 3 October.
