Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson as legendary mixed martial arts and UFC fighter Mark Kerr, delivered a knockout punch Monday at the Venice Film Festival.
The A24 film had its world premiere Monday night inside Sala Grande and the audience went wild, responding with a 15-minute standing ovation. It proved to be a special night for Johnson as Kerr also made the trek to Venice for the showing where they were joined by co-star Emily Blunt. Amid cheers of “DJ,” “Benny” and “Emily,” the audience went wild as all four — Johnson, Blunt, Safdie and Kerr — were all teary-eyed throughout the emotional scene. Even Seth Rogen, a surprise guest, was cheering and hollering while holding a camera throughout the ovation and snapping photos the entire time.
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Safdie tracks Kerr’s trajectory from the heights of fame to rock bottom and back again. Kerr made a name for himself dominating opponents inside of the octagonal ring — his work helped usher in a new era as he became the most powerful fighter the sport had seen — while battling his own demons outside of it with a dependence on painkillers that nearly took him out. Blunt stars as the love of Kerr’s life, Dawn Staples-Kerr, in what marks a reteaming of the actors after their more family friendly film, The Jungle Cruise, from Disney.
The Smashing Machine’s ensemble features a roster of first-time actors, including mixed martial artist Ryan Bader, who plays Kerr’s rival-turned-mentor Mark Coleman, and a slew of modern-day fighters like Oleksandr Usyk, Satoshi Ishii, James Moontasril, Paul Cheng, Cyborg Abreu, Andre Tricoteux and Marcus Aurélio.
The world premiere delivered a big moment for Johnson, one of Hollywood’s most successful movie stars, as he steps outside of the franchise world he’s become known for by taking a chance on a character-driven arthouse drama. It’s also a step in a new direction for Safdie, as it marks his first solo directorial effort after making movies with his brother, Josh Safdie.
Safdie directed The Smashing Machine from a script he wrote. He credited Johnson with bringing him the idea for the film, a project that gained traction once he watched The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, a 2002 documentary. Safdie produced with Johnson, Eli Bush, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia and David Koplan with executive producer Tracey Landon.
“He approached me in, I think, 2019, to possibly do this movie. I watched the documentary about Mark and instantly fell in love with him, because I couldn’t believe that he existed. There was something about him that I felt like I understood,” Safdie said in the film’s press notes. There was something really complicated about Mark that I wanted to explore. And there was something about Dwayne, too. He has this image of himself out in the public, but as he spoke to me about Mark, and as he talked about this movie, oh my God! I realized there was a whole other side to him that we could explore together.{
The Smashing Machine is set for release from A24 on Oct. 3. The Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6.
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