00:00There's such power in being vulnerable, and I know what it's like to, I don't know what it's like to be the heavyweight champion of the world in the world of MMA, but I know what it's like to struggle, I know what it's like to feel pressure, to deliver, and I know what it's like to try and live up to an image.
00:20Dwayne Johnson transforms into pioneering MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, a new biographical sports drama set in the late 90s from writer-director Benny Safdie.
00:31Johnson and Emily Blunt, who plays Kerr's then-girlfriend Dawn Staples, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter all about the new film.
00:38I was at the screening last night, and watching the Q&A honestly felt like an extension of the movie, because you so accurately portrayed Mark, from his mannerisms to the way he spoke.
00:49Talk me through the preparation process. How did you prepare to totally transform into this man?
00:54Well, I spent a lot of time with Benny Safdie. I also spent a lot of time with Mark, and I got to know him really, really well, and we became very close, and put on approximately 30 pounds, and it was funny, because Benny had said, he said, I don't know how to say this to you.
01:09I don't know if you've ever heard this, but you need to get bigger. I went, okay, and then there was a vocal transformation, too, as well.
01:17I realized that, you know, Mark speaks very softly. He speaks from here, and he's so tender and caring. He doesn't, he's not like, a lot of fighters speak from the ground up.
01:26He's not that guy. And also, the mental prep to play him was, what did the addiction do to you as a man and a human being?
01:36Mark!
01:41Winning is the best feeling there is. It's 40,000 people, and they're cheering you on. There's no other high like it in the world.
01:51It's a very intense movie. Emily, for your character, what was it like going to these intense and emotional and dark places?
01:58It's like you can feel the scenes approaching, and you know the big ones are coming up, and it's almost like a storm approaching, and you know that they're going to be really intimidating in anticipation.
02:08I think, I always feel with those types of scenes, once you start, and you launch, it's like a wave sort of carries you through, and I think Benny helps with that, especially because the environment on set is so spontaneous, and so alive, and real.
02:23And so it transports you, because you don't see a camera, you don't see any lights. He hides the cameras, so that you don't feel any technicalities around you.
02:35But it was important for DJ and I to go to those places, and we knew we had to, and we knew it was a way to honor Mark and Dawn, and the kind of, ugh, this eruptive, at times quite hazardous relationship that they had.
02:49So complicated, and so all in all, I think it's exciting and terrifying, all at once.
02:58Let's all get in. Let's all, everybody get in.
03:00Here, Dawn, can you take this picture for us?
03:02Yeah.
03:03What are you thinking at the beginning of the fight?
03:05It's simple. Am I going to hurt him before he hurts me?
03:09At a recent screening of the film in Los Angeles, Crew shared how watching the movie helped him heal from his past traumas in ways he never expected.
03:17What does the way that this movie has affected Mark mean to you?
03:20It means everything. We made this movie as a love letter to Mark, and to Dawn, and to their son, who never had a chance to see their dad in that way, and his mom in that way.
03:33They have a beautiful son named Bryce. So it meant everything to us to see Mark's reaction to it.
03:38I think to see Mark feeling healed by it, you know, and understanding that this movie, not his undoing, not his downfalls as a fighter, but an imprint as a human being.
03:49You know, I think that's what people are reacting to this, because not everyone, well, no one can really relate to being a UFC heavyweight champion of the world.
03:57But we all relate to struggle. And we all relate to trying your hardest. And I think for him to have a movie that really represents his heart, rather than his demolition abilities as a fighter, I think is the thing we're proud of.
04:15And it's so powerful to watch someone so strong, honestly, built like a house, this huge man, be vulnerable and get so emotional.
04:26Dwayne, for you, do you feel like you learned anything about yourself?
04:29I learned things about myself that I never anticipated, that I didn't even know were there.
04:34So number one, just this opportunity to do something like this, where I felt like there was this little voice inside of me saying,
04:42there's more, you can do more, try, give this a shot.
04:47One of the things that I discovered is a greater level of empathy.
04:51In addition to the empathy for me, what I learned about myself was there's such power in being vulnerable.
04:59And I know what it's like to, I don't know what it's like to be the heavyweight champion of the world and the world of MMA.
05:04But I know what it's like to struggle. I know what it's like to feel pressure, to deliver.
05:10And I know what it's like to try and live up to an image that's just hard, man.
05:20And so there is such power in being open and being vulnerable.
05:29And regardless of what the veneer may look like or the image may look like, it's okay just to just do this.
05:35But then you also need someone else to do that with you, which he did.
05:40So that was my biggest takeaway.
05:44The Smashing Machine hits theaters on October 3rd.
05:47For more on the film, go to THR.com.
05:50For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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