Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? Oh yes, we can! It was about damn time. A24 has dropped the official trailer for Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr, the legendary MMA fighter and two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Alongside Johnson, we see Emily Blunt playing Kerr’s then-wife, Dawn Staples. The rest of the cast includes talents such as Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman, Bas Rutten as himself, Oleksandr Usyk as Igor Vovchanchyn, Lyndsey Gavin as Elizabeth Coleman, and more.
Known as “The Smashing Machine” due to his intense fighting style, Mark Kerr transitioned from collegiate wrestling to mixed martial arts (MMA), achieving peak popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Kerr’s life, marked by both triumphs and struggles, was previously explored in a 2002 HBO documentary of the same name as A24’s upcoming film, written and directed by Benny Safdie. Notably, the documentary (and as hinted in the recent trailer) delves into his battle with painkiller addiction.
The Smashing Machine might just put an end to the debate about whether Dwayne Johnson can act. The actor and pro wrestler looks completely unrecognisable and appears to be deeply in sync with the emotional and physical portrayal of Kerr.
A24 has produced and funded The Smashing Machine, which is scheduled for a theatrical release on October 3.
The project has been in development for some time, with Johnson and Safdie collaborating since Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions obtained the rights to Kerr’s life story in 2019. It’s also worth noting that Johnson himself has a history in the ring, having started his career with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE).
Here’s the new trailer for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s The Smashing Machine!