Dwayne Johnson is still taking in the overwhelming response to The Smashing Machine, which premiered to an emotional standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival and left the actor visibly moved to tears.
The film, set in the late 1990s, tells the story of MMA fighter Mark Kerr, exploring both his rise in the sport’s early brutal days and the personal battles with addiction that nearly cost him everything.
On the season premiere of Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Johnson opened up about stepping into one of the most demanding roles of his career.
When asked what it was about Kerr’s story that convinced him to take on the part, Johnson admitted it was something he had felt inside him for a long time.
“Thank you so much for that. I really appreciate it. And you’re right. I feel like this has, for me, been brewing inside of me for some time, just this idea of: ‘Wait, I think I can do more. I feel like I want to do more.’ And then it comes… and then I’m going to do it with Benny Safdie,” he said.
The actor shared that while he was eager to take the leap, he also had doubts about whether he could meet the challenge.
“And then I start to get a little cold feet, ‘Wait, can I do more?’ You know?” Johnson recalled.
But it was Safdie’s encouragement that pushed him forward.
“You’re right about needing that person to say, ‘Hey, not only can you, and I believe you can, but walk down this road with me and see what I see.’ And here’s the cliff. Jump off. Hopefully the parachute opens. But he was like, ‘I got you, though,’ right? That was the thing. ‘I got you.’ There’s the cliff, there’s the ocean of waves, it seems like you can’t swim them, but he said, ‘I got you.’”
For Johnson, who is best known for his larger-than-life action roles, embodying Kerr’s pain and resilience marked a powerful shift in his career.
The actor’s raw performance in The Smashing Machine is already being called one of his most transformative, and judging by the reaction in Venice, audiences are ready to embrace this new side of him.