Dwayne Johnson has left Hollywood stunned with his dramatic transformation, which has left fans all saying the same thing.
The Fast and Furious star, also known as The Rock, has taken on the role of MMA fighter Mark Kerr in upcoming A24 film, The Smashing Machine – which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week.
The 53-year-old’s efforts were met with huge applause by critics, reducing him to tears when the movie received a 15-minute standing ovation after the screening.
He had everyone doing a double-take when he hit the red carpet looking visibly slimmer, and spoke about how excited he was to take on such a huge transformation for the project.
‘This transformation was something I was really hungry to do,’ he declared at a press conference on Monday. ‘I had been very fortunate to have the career that I’ve had over the years and to make the films that I’ve made.
‘But there was just a voice inside of me, a little voice, that said, “Well, what if I could do more – I want to do more and what does that look like?”’
Emily Blunt, who stars as Dawn Stables in Benny Safdie’s new film, had a front-row seat into Dwayne’s slim-down and described seeing him ‘completely disappear’ as ‘one of the most extraordinary things’.
‘It was spooky, spooky for all of us,’ she recalled. ‘I remember when he walked in as Mark for the first time, it changed the air in the room, it was like everyone parted, everyone went very quiet.’
‘I’m sure that sucked for you,’ she added. ‘But it was extraordinary’.
Fans were left completely shocked by the WWE legend’s new look and flocked to social media to unpack the transformation – making the exact same joke about his larger than life persona.
Twitter user B3rwv quipped: ‘Looks like Dwayne Johnson traded in “The Rock” for “The Pebble” that movie role must’ve knocked off a few boulders!’
RuRyda agreed: ‘We can no longer call him the ROCK, He must now be referred to as the Pebble. Dwayne the Pebble Johnson.’
‘He’s now Dwayne the Pebble Johnson,’ Mcbumpypants penned.
Bearded Batman said: ‘Yo Dwayne Johnson! You shrunk from The Rock to a damn pebble! Gym ghosted you?
‘But props to you as Smashing Machine killed it! Congrats on the flicks, keep slaying!’
As We Hoopin added: ‘Dwayne “The Pebble” Johnson is the reason I’m never deleting this app.’
While Dwayne has yet to address the reaction to his new look, he is no stranger to switching things up for a new role, and previously shared his work-out routines ahead of his stint in Black Adam in 2023.
‘Big week for #BlackAdam shooting my “champion” scenes with my shirt off and showing my body,’ he said on Instagram at the time. ‘Been working extremely hard dieting, training and conditioning unlike any other role of my entire career.
‘Manipulating water, sodium, cardio but also having to push and pull real iron to have dense, dry, detailed muscle.
‘It’s a real science that takes months and months to dial it all in with my strength & conditioning coach @daverienzi who keeps a very watchful eye, constantly fine tuning our strategy daily.
‘Big week, grateful for the grind & support – here we go.’
The Smashing Machine is released in cinemas on October 3.
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