Dwayne Johnson & Emily Blunt bring the The Smashing Machine to London Report by Mccallumj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
00:37I love your tie and I love the socks as well. Thank you. I know, look at that. The detail, your match in the background. I know, I'm matching the background. I've got some tassels. I love it. It's a tie my wife and my kids gave me. It's a surf and it's colorful. Isn't that what you like? I'm Jodie, lovely to meet you. Nice to meet you as well. Congratulations on this. I mean, what a film. It's absolutely incredible. I was listening to the interviews. I'm going to wait a minute.
00:58Music
01:03Music
01:06mobile with it. I like to move the cameras quickly, I like to move quickly, and a lot
01:12of the times I like to hide the cameras, keep them far away from the actors so that they
01:17don't feel encumbered by the whole process, you know.
01:20That's good. I like that because then they can just focus on the acting.
01:23Yeah, I want the performances to come through in a way. So it's kind of a balance, how do
01:28I get out of the way but still get what I need, you know.
01:31And what was it like when you found out that Dwayne and Emily both said yes to this?
01:35Oh my God. It was remarkable, you know, because Dwayne was in from the beginning because he
01:40approached me with the idea. And he just, he said he wanted to play Mark Kerr. And then
01:47I thought about it and I think, I think I have a good idea on how to do this. And it would
01:52involve the high bar of you having to really just become another human being and as real
02:00as possible. Because I'm going to shoot it in a way that hopefully looks and feels very
02:05real. So the bar was set high and then when Emily came on board it was so perfect because
02:10that relationship requires a solid foundation. So, yeah, it was amazing.
02:15And they already had that which is great because they come on and they're ready to do it as
02:19friends which obviously must benefit.
02:20Yeah, you know, it's just nice because it's like you get, when you have a good time on
02:24something you want to talk about.
02:25Amazing. Well, listen, thank you for serving the colours. We really appreciate it. It was
02:30lovely to meet you.
02:31Of course.
02:32And good luck with this film.
02:33Oh, thank you.
02:34I appreciate it.
02:36Great.
03:06Heather, how are you?
03:08You look absolutely beautiful.
03:09You too, you look so cool.
03:10The last time I saw you was Oppenheimer.
03:11Oh my God.
03:12And obviously I was dressed in that orange, remember?
03:13No, you looked awesome.
03:14You looked awesome.
03:15It's so good to see you again.
03:16You too.
03:17Knocking it out of the park once again.
03:18Excuse the pun.
03:19But every performance, Emily, is just amazing.
03:22Thank you so much.
03:23Listen, you're so great in this.
03:24What was it like getting to play the women that you see
03:26that have the internal fights and battles with these fighters?
03:29Sure.
03:30I mean, I think that that's the thing, that there's such a brotherhood amongst the fighters.
03:36And they almost get the best of each other in some way.
03:39There's this like intrinsic bond that they have.
03:42But I think what goes on behind closed doors and what Dawn had to absorb of Mark's addiction
03:48and of his vulnerability and his own brokenness.
03:51Like she was the sponge for a lot of that and had her own demons that she was turmoil by.
03:57So I think it's a complex relationship.
04:00It's not a tidy one.
04:01It's not the one you see in movies often.
04:03And that's exciting to me.
04:05Talking about bonds.
04:06I love this bond.
04:07Oh, she's so best.
04:08She's such a gem.
04:09And I believe you kind of gave him the confidence as well to do this because you said,
04:12listen, I'll do it with you.
04:13We'll do it together.
04:14Right?
04:15Yeah.
04:16I mean, I think that he always had this.
04:17I could sense over the years this sort of growing restlessness, you know, of like that
04:21idea of someone sort of looking to grab purchase of something new.
04:25And he didn't know quite when or how or what it would be.
04:28And I think when this came along, there's nobody else who could play that part.
04:33But I think often it's easier for other people to recognize your abilities.
04:38You might have more self-doubt than others would put upon you.
04:41And I think Benny and I were like, you've got this.
04:44Like, you can do this.
04:45And he was transformative in it.
04:47It was an astonishing thing to see someone I consider I know well completely vaporized,
04:53like that version of him.
04:54It was so exciting.
04:55Well, you smashed it once again.
04:57Lovely to see you.
04:58Thank you so much, Emily.
04:59Thank you so much.
05:00Good to see you.
05:25Hello again, Dwayne.
05:26Hello.
05:27Last time I saw you was Black Adam.
05:28How are you doing?
05:29A long time ago.
05:30Good to see you.
05:31You as well.
05:32It was in London.
05:33It was in London.
05:34Yes.
05:35And you also had another drink.
05:36You were drinking something else at Black Adam.
05:37Probably the same thing.
05:38What is the secret drink?
05:39I need to know.
05:40The secret is tequila.
05:41Tequila.
05:42Yes.
05:43Right.
05:44Okay.
05:45Okay.
05:53Tequila.
05:54Tequila.
05:55Yes.
05:56Right.
05:57Okay.
05:58I'm trying to get more into tequila.
05:59Oh.
06:00But it's strong for me.
06:01Even though I'm Scottish.
06:02But I'm trying to like blend it with things.
06:03Mix it with something.
06:04Yeah.
06:05Because that was refreshing.
06:06It's really good.
06:07Especially the one I make.
06:08Yes.
06:09Listen, if you want to make me one, we can talk about it.
06:10But we've got to talk about this film.
06:11You are incredible in this.
06:13Oh my goodness.
06:14Thank you so much.
06:15And I loved when you were talking about it in Venice.
06:17And I feel like this role has been really personal for you as well, right?
06:20It's very personal for me.
06:21This one is personal and, you know, the reception in Venice was crazy because you don't, we went
06:28into this unattached to an outcome, unattached to a reaction.
06:32You never know how people are going to respond to a film.
06:35I've been in them where people are so happy.
06:38Hey, you made a great one.
06:39And then I've been in them too as well.
06:40We're like, hmm, that flopped.
06:42Let's learn from that lesson.
06:44But this one was special.
06:46And we went to Venice and I was there with Mark Kerr.
06:48Mark Kerr, who's the man I play, he watched it with us.
06:51And that audience erupted.
06:53And am I right in saying you met Mark when you were in your WWE days and now you're playing
06:58him?
06:59What is going on?
07:00So wild, isn't it?
07:01How the world can work.
07:02I met Mark in the, in the late nineties and we had a post workout lunch together.
07:08And I was interested back then because already he was ascending.
07:12He was already Mark Kerr.
07:13He was the most dominant heavyweight in the world.
07:17And I was so interested in his training and in his ascension.
07:23And then what kind of money is he making?
07:25And because at that time I wasn't making that much money.
07:28And, um, but yeah, it's so wild that, you know, years later, here we are.
07:32And I love the friendship between you and Emily.
07:35I love you two together.
07:36Did you ever think, you know, back in the day from Jungle Cruise, you'd be here doing
07:40a film like this together?
07:41No, no, I, we, we always talked about working together and trying to figure out what it
07:47is and what it would be.
07:49But this was, you know, it's like, it's like kismet.
07:52How it's just kind of in the stars universe works.
07:56God works, whatever the higher powers that you believe in.
07:59And it's like, we with Emily, I sent her the documentary of the smashing machine.
08:05She was filming Oppenheimer with Benny Safdie at that time.
08:09And then Benny said, Hey, you know, Dwayne, right?
08:12You guys are friends.
08:13She's like, yeah, he's one of my best friends.
08:14He's like, I was going to do something with him called smashing machine, but COVID happened.
08:19And so I sent her the documentary and she loved it.
08:23And she, I'll never forget that call.
08:26She called me and she said, you must make this movie.
08:30And I'm going to text you and Benny together.
08:33You have to do it together.
08:35So in a way she was, Emily Blunt was the glue.
08:38And that's, that's amazing.
08:40And just finally then as Dwayne Johnson, what was it like being told that you have to get bigger?
08:45Oh my God.
08:47That's what he said.
08:48Yeah.
08:49He's like, you got to get bigger, puffier.
08:50And, um, I, at first I told him, I said, well, give me 24 hours.
08:56Let me think about this.
08:57And then I went back to Benny and I said, I get it.
09:01Mark is a big guy.
09:02He's a lot bigger than I was back then.
09:04A lot bigger than I am now.
09:06Um, but, but I also knew that there was a real challenge because that's 30 pounds of muscle.
09:12There's a different quality of muscle that Mark Kerr had.
09:15And it's not like I'm going to go eat milkshakes and cheeseburgers, you know, every day.
09:20Not that I wish it was that kind of role, but it wasn't.
09:23And it just, so it was putting on the weight and at the same time making sure that I was
09:27still able to move and be athletic and be in the cage and be in the ring.
09:31And it was, that was hard.
09:33That was really, really hard.
09:34It was hard to carry that weight.
09:36So not only did I have to carry it for three months, but then two weeks later when we wrapped
09:41Smashing Machine, I went into live action Moana as Maui.
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