'The Smashing Machine' Director Benny Safdie Breaks Down a Scene

Vanity Fair

In this episode of "Notes on a Scene," 'The Smashing Machine' director Benny Safdie breaks down the scene where Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) has lost his first professional fight, and Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt) sits down to consult him. Benny explains how he built the scene with just two camera positions and intricate choices.  Director: Claire Buss Director of Photography: Eric Brouse Editor: Michael Penhollow Talent: Benny Safdie Producer: Madison Coffey Line Producer: Natasha Soto-Albors Associate Producer: Lyla Neely Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi Associate Production Manager: Elizabeth Hymes Talent Booker: Lauren Mendoza Camera Operator: Caleb Weiss Gaffer: David Djaco Audio Engineer: Rebecca O'Neill Production Assistant: Shanti Cuizon-Burden; Ryan Coppola Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo Assistant Editor: Andy Morell

Transcript

00:00I was obsessed with recreating the reality of it, because in the recreation, you create

00:05something new.

00:06That's my feeling.

00:07It's basically like therapy, in a way, if you think about it.

00:10You talk about what happened, and by talking about what happened and putting it outside,

00:15you understand a little bit about it differently.

00:17So that's what's happening here in film form, I guess.

00:20Hi, I'm Benny Safdie, and I wrote and directed The Smashing Machine, and this is Notes on

00:24a Scene.

00:25We have decided to call this fight with Diego no contest.

00:33No contest.

00:34This is just after Mark Kerr has lost his first professional fight.

00:39The way that I approached all of the scenes in the movie was, what if I was actually there?

00:44What if we had the ability to document what was happening?

00:47But from the point of view of an endless amount of cameras potentially, but I was always conscious

00:53of where the cameras were prior.

00:55I have an idea of what shots I need.

00:57It's a very nice process with the actors.

01:00Okay, now we're going to put the camera all the way over there, and it's going to be very

01:05far away.

01:06This one's probably a 200 and something millimeter lens on a tripod, and it's zoomed in on the

01:11scene.

01:12What'd they say?

01:14I decided to call it a no contest.

01:17That's awesome.

01:19As they're approaching, you kind of can't even tell what you're looking at.

01:23But I find that very interesting because it places you in the scene, and you kind of

01:26feel like you're hiding, and maybe you shouldn't have access to where you are.

01:30That's awesome.

01:31Why are you still so sad?

01:32Because, Dawn, I'm not sad.

01:33It's just, I don't do that for no contest.

01:35I want the decision.

01:37You know?

01:38I mean, it's just, I'm out there, I'm sacrificing everything.

01:41Literally.

01:42You know.

01:43I see it.

01:44I'm sacrificing everything out there for the reward at the end.

01:46Right.

01:47This camera is always kind of like zoomed in.

01:50So we kind of bury the zoom.

01:52That's a term I love.

01:53You bury the zoom in the movement of all these things.

01:55So now we're close on Dwayne this way, and I'm a big fan of wide eye lines.

02:00So as you can see, she's looking this way, and he's looking kind of straight ahead.

02:05So the eye lines are correct, but they're very wide.

02:07You know?

02:08You normally, if you were to do this scene, you would do that, and then you'd get right

02:11over, and you'd kind of have them talking to each other, and they'd be kind of more

02:14as I am looking at you.

02:16There's something about the wide eye line that tells you that you are watching a real

02:21situation.

02:22And in this, it's funny because this locker room was filled with people, filled with fighters

02:27and filled with this.

02:28And you don't really see them.

02:29And I have them actually talking.

02:31It kind of allows the actors to get into a frame of mind.

02:34I like the fact that now you really are like with them.

02:39And this camera, you're really with her.

02:42She's really just trying to connect with him in this scene.

02:44And in this one, you're a little bit more further away because he's very disconnected

02:47in the scene too.

02:49So even though you only have two camera positions, I've given myself the ability to now be in

02:54a place where you're with him.

02:57You know, he fills the frame essentially.

03:00It just like physically, you know, that was also very important.

03:03He's very, I asked Dwayne to get bigger in the movie.

03:05And so like, you can see like the size of his body is just enormous because Mark was a huge

03:11guy.

03:12There's no other highlight like it in the world.

03:13I can only imagine.

03:14Yeah.

03:15I can see it.

03:16I can see it in you.

03:17Just the element, the contradiction of how he's acting here with his physical size was

03:21very important.

03:22As we did the scene a couple of times, I didn't like that it was so clean.

03:26And I wanted to remind the viewer that you are in a real place.

03:30And so this guy comes from literally down the hallway here and he just blocks the frame.

03:35Normally you would cut this out and you wouldn't have that in the movie.

03:38But I think that this is important to see, oh, first of all, the camera isn't as close

03:43as I thought it was, because if it was, this wouldn't be as out of focus.

03:48These are things that I don't think people actually maybe understand, but they feel it.

03:52So the fact that he comes in like this and completely obliterates the frame, you realize,

03:57oh, wait, I'm not actually right up on the actors.

04:01It's 40,000 people and they're cheering you on.

04:03I mean, that's orgasmic.

04:04Yeah, no.

04:05I'm done.

04:06I'm not kidding.

04:07I'm not kidding.

04:08You're sitting and watching a conversation of two people who aren't actually saying what

04:12they are talking about, which I just find interesting because then you have to read into the subtext

04:17and also the parts of their performance that are different.

04:20But the thing that's hard is you're not close to them, so it really is on the actors to bring

04:26a performance that's very real.

04:27And you had that feeling, you fought, you had the feeling, but you don't seem happy about

04:32it.

04:33I'm trying to explain it to you, but you just keep talking.

04:36Yeah.

04:37It's so raw.

04:38She goes, but you did that.

04:39You just experienced that.

04:40And then this.

04:42That move.

04:43Ugh.

04:44When Dwayne did that, that just became, I was like, oh my, it's so dismissive.

04:48Ugh.

04:49And this look on his face, like there's certain things that he's, oh, and then just to point

04:54out, Kazu did an incredible job with the prosthetics, but here he's just gotten beaten up.

05:00So he has a different eyepiece, a different part here.

05:03His nose is more swollen.

05:04There's a cut.

05:05You know, his eyebrows are swollen.

05:07This part of his ear is swollen.

05:09So we had to add a completely new level of prosthetics just for after the fight in this specific

05:16scene.

05:17Those were things that we had to think of.

05:18And we also had to take the time to kind of in the middle of the shoot, we had to then,

05:22he had to then go and get another two and a half hours of makeup to change it all out,

05:26to have this kind of beaten look to him.

05:31I do kind of have certain rules of like when I'm editing, once you're in, you stay in.

05:36And when you go out, you have to have a reason to go out.

05:38And now if you look like pretty, this is basically a closeup of Dwayne.

05:43But when we started out, this is more of a medium shot.

05:46We're slowly getting in as the scene is going on.

05:50And I think that that's an important thing that you feel as a viewer, as you're watching

05:54it because you're building up as you're kind of getting closer to him and closer and closer.

05:59And you're trying to understand and hear what he's talking about.

06:01But they were getting to a place where they were trying to have a moment.

06:04He brushes it off and then we cut back out.

06:06So that like relieves the tension.

06:08You know that something is going to change within it.

06:11No, I'm trying to understand what you're saying.

06:13And I'm trying to support you.

06:14I know, but only because I'm trying to tell you exactly what happened.

06:17Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

06:19And then this guy comes in and he's completely joking.

06:22He's so happy.

06:24This is also what I really wanted to show is that these fighters are friends with each other.

06:28And there's a very close knit community to them.

06:31And it's not what you would expect them to be.

06:34And in the original documentary, that's what's really special is him and Igor have a very strange relationship.

06:41This guy just beat him up and made him feel the worst he's ever felt in his life.

06:45And yet afterwards, he can relate to this man 100%.

06:50Hey, brother.

06:52How are you?

06:53Oh.

06:54What wasn't real was Don wasn't there in this scene.

06:58And so I thought, oh, to highlight their disconnect, I should put Don in the scene.

07:03Because now you can see that he's relating to the person who physically just beat him up.

07:07But he can't relate to the person who loves him and is trying to connect with him.

07:11And I just thought that was really sad.

07:13And I feel bad for her there.

07:15I'm always shooting with two cameras all the time.

07:18And those two cameras are always moving and changing coverage so that I can have as much coverage as possible without switching positions.

07:25So I'm optimizing my ability to cover the scene without the time it would take to reset.

07:32There's like little things you probably don't even realize.

07:34All these things are built.

07:35All this stuff is built.

07:36And I really wanted the lights to be making this motion.

07:40This has to be Japan.

07:41So there has to be an element of like, so this, I don't know, this is a very Japanese design.

07:47You know, it's very thought through.

07:48This is the locker room, classy locker room with these lights.

07:51And again, finding the right lights that created that through the screen.

07:55I think there's, this is an interesting turn here.

07:57Look at Dwayne here.

07:59They're in the middle of a fight.

08:02Okay.

08:03They're in the middle of the fight and instantly he turns and he's smiling.

08:08I'm like, that is psychotic.

08:12This guy has such a deep connection with Igor that Emily will never have with him.

08:19That difference is really kind of shocking.

08:23Is that for me?

08:24Yeah.

08:25Let me see.

08:26Can I see?

08:27Can I see?

08:30Nice.

08:31Here they are joking about hitting each other.

08:33So that for me, let me see.

08:34These are the parts of performance that I am like obsessed with.

08:37First of all, he has the cut.

08:39It's an amazing job.

08:40This was Felix who did the makeup on this cut, but the, it's real tape.

08:44So he's pulling it off of his head.

08:47And then like, we put a little bit of blood there.

08:49So these are like the little details that I love.

08:51How many stitches?

08:53Four.

08:54Four.

08:55Four stitches.

08:56Four.

08:57Four.

08:58Does the body feel okay?

08:59A little bit of the knee.

09:01This person is a real Ukrainian translator.

09:04Not an actress.

09:05She translates Ukrainian for a living.

09:07She happens to look exactly like the person who was the translator for the real Igor Vovchenchen.

09:12And why I decided to do that, I have no idea.

09:15You know why?

09:16A lot of my head.

09:18I'm sorry.

09:20No, no, no.

09:21It's okay.

09:22So this is, so there's two cameras here and there's one down the middle.

09:25Again, I'm still conscious of the fact that I don't want the other cameras to see each other.

09:30So in this scene, normally it would be very difficult to have all these points of view.

09:34It's still rooted in some kind of reality.

09:36And this guy is, he was a fighter from the time of Mark Kerr's career.

09:40And again, I just really populated the world with everybody who was from that time.

09:44The guy is actually Usyk's manager, Eggis, who's an incredible person, but he's there.

09:49So Usyk, who's playing Igor, the two of them have a built-in relationship.

09:53This guy was from the time.

09:54So he's so excited and he's a fighter himself.

09:56So he's like, I can't even believe I'm with the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

09:59So there's a whole vibe going on of this kind of friendship.

10:03And Dawn is on the outside.

10:05And so we play the whole scene and I just have it on her.

10:09Tell him it's natural, natural reaction.

10:12And she's not saying anything.

10:14She's just looking at him.

10:16And we know because we've just seen it.

10:18This is a very different Mark than we saw before.

10:21Maybe he's performing.

10:22Maybe he's being real.

10:23We don't know.

10:24Maybe he's putting on face for Igor.

10:26And he doesn't want him to see how upset he was.

10:28Either way, what she's seeing now.

10:30And this is what I think is incredible is like, you can't make this up.

10:34She is looking directly at him.

10:37And it is like, she is so upset that, wow, this guy can't relate to me this way.

10:46And I don't know what to do.

10:48And it's a very devastating position to be in.

10:51The camera can literally just watch her as the whole scene is going on.

10:55My head was down there, my face is down there.

11:01I know that Dwayne being the person he is, as famous as he is, as well known as he is, he has those kind of arguments.

11:10Everybody does.

11:11You know, you have those kind of miscommunications in private.

11:14But this is a public moment in a way.

11:16So now we're getting to literally see Mark Kerr suppress his emotions and be the person that everybody expects him to be.

11:25And I remember specifically sending Dwayne a clip from It's a Wonderful Life.

11:29George Bailey gets the news about his brother having to go to work.

11:32When he gets the news, he realizes, oh, my God, he's devastated.

11:36But as he walks to the other side, to the crowd where everybody's having a great time with his brother, he turns on a smile.

11:43And you know that that smile is not genuine.

11:45I think seeing that is really important.

11:48And it's very difficult acting-wise to do that.

11:50You know, it's Jimmy Stewart, one of the best.

11:52Now Dwayne is doing exactly that where he is completely changing his personality, his persona and everything.

11:59And you can't even imagine that this is a guy who five seconds earlier was hysterically crying.

12:05And having a crazy kind of miscommunication on a gut level with his partner.

12:11But she's trying to understand him.

12:13And she's just not succeeding.

12:14So you're watching this gulf of a relationship, which is really devastating to be part of.

12:19And now you're seeing him smile as if none of that ever happened.

12:23And I know that he's had to do this who knows how many times.

12:26I've had to do it myself.

12:27Let's all get a picture.

12:28Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do it together.

12:30Let's do it, yeah.

12:31Can you do a picture?

12:33Let's all get in. Let's all, everybody get in.

12:35This is a moment where he's gonna say,

12:37Oh, let's all get in.

12:40Let's all take a picture.

12:42Here, Don.

12:43Here, Don.

12:44And he just kind of like,

12:45Can you take it?

12:46And he's so sweet about it.

12:48But it's so in that action.

12:51Here, Don, can you take this picture for us?

12:53Yeah.

12:55Yeah, come on.

12:56Look at you two guys.

12:57I'm the best one.

12:58Two of the best ones.

13:00He has no idea what he's just asked her to do.

13:03And it's one of the most belittling, really sad.

13:08You're on the outside.

13:09Here, I'm gonna take an amazing, happy picture.

13:12All these guys are having fun.

13:13So we specifically had a giant flash that would do this to the camera.

13:19Because I think that this frame is really just special.

13:24It's like it imprints itself in your memory.

13:26Even if it's just for a second.

13:28The fact that this is how happy everybody is.

13:31And this is where Emily is.

13:35And again, now we're really close to her.

13:39We are with her, separate from them.

13:41They're together.

13:42You can have the camera set up.

13:44And you can move very quickly throughout the scene to keep the performance alive.

13:48Because there's nothing I hate more than,

13:50Oh my God, that was amazing.

13:51Now let's turn around.

13:53And then you have to wait an hour and a half for everybody to switch everything over and get that.

13:57Because what I'm getting at here is I'm trying to get at the realism of the performance.

14:01Two of the best ones.

14:03That's it.

14:04And this was tough because like, yeah, she has to sit there the whole time watching him have a good time.

14:09And build to this moment where she's gonna take this picture.

14:13And she turns away from him and wipes it away.

14:21And nobody here has any idea that that's what she's feeling.

14:25And then when the scene happens, we shoot the rehearsal always because then that also is a rehearsal for our camera operators to see where they can get in better.

14:34And we're constantly having the conversation.

14:36It is an open book.

14:37Everybody's listening.

14:38Everybody knows what's gonna happen.

14:40But at the same time, the actors don't really need to pay attention to what's if they're on camera.

14:46Because they are on camera.

14:47They're always gonna be on camera.

14:49So they have to perform.

14:50You know, there isn't that element of like, Oh, I can take this one off.

14:54You can't because you might be seen at some point.

14:57We're putting in all this time and effort to make it look like it just happened once.

15:03Great fight.

15:04When the real Mark Kerr watched the movie, this scene, he's like, that's it.

15:09And I was very happy to have captured something that felt very real to him.

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