Benny Safdie on Why He Knew Dwayne Johnson Was Right for 'The Smashing Machine' | THR Video - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Director Benny Safdie talks to THR on the red carpet for 'The Smashing Machine' premiere and shares how he knew Dwayne Johnson was the right person for the lead role. Plus, he talks about filming his first movie without his brother Josh Safdie and how "it's been a process of 'what do I want to explore?'"

Transcript

00:00Congratulations.

00:02This is obviously Wayne's kind of first role like this.

00:04How did you know that he could tackle something that's traumatic?

00:06I looked in his eyes and I just saw.

00:09Honestly, that's the truth.

00:11I could see that there was this depth and complexity to him.

00:14And he was also so inquisitive and wanting to learn, just like as you spoke to him.

00:19Because you don't know what...

00:21He's such a larger than life guy, you don't know what to expect.

00:25And then when I met him, I was just like, wow, this guy's unbelievable.

00:29He really is, like the real deal.

00:31And I just thought, wow, he really can embody this in a way that would be very special.

00:37And I think we can get at a really layered, complicated performance.

00:40Because he does radiate such kind of kindness and warmth.

00:43But I think that like, if you show that he's also been through some stuff.

00:48And on top of that, he still is that way.

00:51That just makes him even better, you know?

00:54And you had a no stent on him, right?

00:56Yes, you know, for his shots, you know, I wanted to see him do it.

01:01You know, and of course, like when he doesn't have to get in there.

01:04You know, we've had people like for like reverse shots and stuff.

01:08But it was very important to me to see him do these things.

01:12Because I didn't want, like for example, there's a shot where he gets punched and he falls down.

01:17And he slides into the ropes.

01:19Normally, you would show the punch.

01:21You'd cut to behind and somebody would fall.

01:24And then he would be on the ground and then you'd see him on the ground.

01:26I wanted to see him do the whole thing.

01:29I wanted to see him engage in these moments because I knew that the realism of the movie would overcome.

01:35That was the most important thing.

01:37And if you thought I was hiding something, you wouldn't buy it, you know?

01:42So he needed to do it.

01:43Wow.

01:44And this is the first movie you've done without your brother.

01:46Was that kind of an adjustment or how did that compare?

01:48You know, it wasn't really an adjustment in the sense that I had been acting a lot, you know, on my own for a while.

01:56And there's a level of kind of like independence that you have there.

02:00And then I made a TV show with my friend Nathan, The Curse.

02:05So it's been a kind of a process of what do I want to explore?

02:09And then I started doing the history of the movie.

02:13I had a TV show with my dad today because everybody watched it.

02:16I haven't seen it yet.

02:17So it was like, I'm家 of the man.

02:19And that's pretty good enough because of the film.

02:20And I just think I was going to leave the movie because it's like success.

02:23I was going to show you everything and you were.

02:27And that's pretty good.

02:30Yeah, sure.

02:31But that happened so that I could finish my Deutschland name off across the wall.

Benny Safdie on Why He Knew Dwayne Johnson Was Right for 'The Smashing Machine' | THR Video

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