Dwayne Johnson’s transformation into UFC trailblazer Mark Kerr for his new movie The Smashing Machine ‘changed the air in the room’ his co-star Emily Blunt has revealed.
Johnson, a wrestling icon himself before pivoting to acting, is tackling his first major dramatic role in the hotly anticipated sports biopic from filmmaker Benny Safdie, which premieres at Venice Film Festival tonight.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Blunt called it ‘one of the most extraordinary things’, seeing her close friend ‘completely disappear like that’.
‘It was spooky, spooky for all of us,’ she told journalists, including Metro. ‘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, turning to Johnson, ‘but it was extraordinary’.
The 53-year-old Fast & Furious and Red Notice star – who made his movie debut in 2001’s The Mummy Returns before landing his own spin-off film, The Scorpion King, the following year – revealed that he had been ‘really hungry’ to take on a dramatic part like this.
He also credited his Jungle Cruise co-star Blunt for ‘encouraging me and believing in me’ to take that step, while director Safdie ‘was on the other side of that saying, “Hey, I’ve got you both and let’s go for it”.’
‘So that transformation could not have happened without my best friend being there to support and encourage and just say, “You can do it”, and also, “I got you” – and Benny.’
Oscar-nominee Blunt plays Kerr’s wife Dawn Staples, who she became very close with, crediting Dawn with sharing ‘the full weather system of’ their tumultuous relationship.
The 42-year-old also said it was an exciting relationship to put on screen due to its realness and rawness.
‘I had been a part of a lot of relationships that are more curated to a movie, a movie-fied relationship,’ the Oppenheimer actress observed. ‘This felt like the full spectrum of what a relationship really looks like, because human beings change within the hour – and I think we got to show that.
‘It was exciting to be able to work like that, with Benny’s visceral way of shooting that was so spontaneous. It was like the guard rails came off for us every day.’
Johnson, who has enjoyed a long career in action and comedy fare, also dismissed the idea that he was trying to prove anything to Hollywood about his acting chops with The Smashing Machine.
‘It’s more about me. Internally I have, for a long time, wanted this,’ he responded, before revealing that he had felt ‘pigeonholed’ by box office success and how it’s chased by Hollywood.
‘The box office in our business is very loud and can push you into a category, into a corner: this is your lane, and this is what you do, and this is what people want you to be, and this is what Hollywood wants you to be.
‘And I understood that, and I made those movies, and I liked them, and they were fun. Some were really good and did well and some not so good. But I just had this burning desire and this voice that was saying, “Well, what if? What if there is more, what if I can?”,’ he explained.
‘And a lot of times it’s harder to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeonholed into something. Sometimes it takes people who you love and you respect, like Emily and Benny, to say you can, and this is it.’
‘So I don’t think it’s anything to prove to Hollywood as much as it was just for me, now,’ he added, revealing that he had started to question in the past few years if he was ‘living other people’s dreams’ rather than his own.
‘And you come to that recognition, and you can either fall in line – well, it’s status quo, things are good, I don’t want to rock the boat, or go, no, I want to live my dreams now and do what I want to do, and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into, and have a place finally to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past, that I’ve shied away from.
‘I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity.’
The Smashing Machine premieres at Venice Film Festival on Monday. It’s released in UK cinemas on October 3.
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