Dwayne 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. Johnson and Emily Blunt, who plays Kerr's then-girlfriend Dawn Staples, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter all about the new film, including what it's creation has meant to the movie's subject, Kerr, how they prepared to shoot the film's intense scenes and what Johnson feels he learned about himself from participating in the project.
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.
00:39I 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. He's not that guy.
01:27And also, the mental prep to play him was, what did the addiction do to you, as a man, and a human being?
01:37Mark!
01:38Mark!
01:39Mark!
01:40Mark!
01:41Mark!
01:42Winning 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.
02:16And I think Benny helps with that, especially because the environment on set is so spontaneous and so alive and real.
02:24And 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.
02:34But 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.
02:45You know, this eruptive, at times quite hazardous relationship that they had. So 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.
03:00Yeah, 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,
03:12Kerr shared how watching the movie helped him heal from his past traumas in ways he never expected.
03:17What is 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.
03:39I 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.
04:25Dwayne, 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.
04:33So 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 in 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, and 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 you did.
05:40So that was my biggest takeaway.
05:43The 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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