When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/i><\/p>\n Credit: A24<\/p>\n Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson\u2019s latest feature film has finally arrived, as The Smashing Machine hit theaters this past week. The movie, which is directed by Josh Safdie, centers on mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr, a legend within the world of professional fighting. Johnson has been enthusiastic while promoting the flick, which has been a passionate project of his. On the surface, this biopic may seem like a run-of-the-mill sports film, but Johnson has a take on why it\u2019s much more than a \u201cfight movie.\u201d<\/p>\n Based on the trailers for The Smashing Machine, it seems evident that Benny Safdie, Dwayne Johnson and co. put a lot of work into the fight scenes. (I personally can\u2019t wait to see those bouts play out on the big screen myself.) However, there\u2019s more to the film than what happens with Mark Kerr inside the ring. Johnson caught up with Deadline<\/a> at the film\u2019s premiere in LA, and he revealed how he views it as a whole:<\/p>\n Fighting just happened to be what he did, and he was awesome at it. But it\u2019s not a fight movie, it\u2019s a life movie.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n What The Rock is saying is that he and his collaborators didn\u2019t limit themselves to the more athletic aspect of Mark Kerr\u2019s story. Everyone involved also seemed interested in making a nuanced movie that would capture numerous aspects of Kerr\u2019s life in addition to his career. That was a smart move, as many of the best sports-centric films<\/a> go that route, with Martin Scorsese\u2019s Raging Bull being a prime example of such a layered film. Like Jake LaMotta\u2019s story, Kerr\u2019s is also filled with ups and downs, as Rock explained:<\/p>\n Mark Kerr\u2019s life represents so much of everyone around the world, but not \u2018oh, he\u2019s the greatest fighter on the planet,\u2019 but more so \u2018oh, he struggled with pressure and how to deal with pressure.’ And he struggled with pain, and he struggled with how to deal with addiction. And he got hit hard. At one point, he was the greatest fighter on the planet, and then he lost. And he had a hard time reconciling with that loss.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As an MMA fighter, Kerr saw his share of wins but, as indicated above, he also saw his share of losses (both in and outside of the ring). Kerr\u2019s personal life was also marked by health issues, including a struggle with addiction. His occasionally tumultuous relationship with former wife Dawn Staples has also been much discussed. The Rock and co. had the privilege of actually having Kerr on set<\/a> as well, and the experience was incredibly meaningful for The Smashing Machine\u2019s leading man, given Kerr\u2019s journey:<\/p>\n He overdosed twice; he\u2019s lucky to be alive, and I\u2019m so happy that he is alive. Because as you know, films like this where they\u2019re a bio film, a lot of times, the main subject isn\u2019t alive, he\u2019s not around, or she\u2019s not around. So, I\u2019m so thankful that he is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n More on The Smashing Machine<\/p>\n Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine<\/p>\n Everybody Wants To Talk About How Good Dwayne Johnson Is In The Smashing Machine, But I Need To Talk About Another Great Acting Performance By Him<\/a><\/p>\n The Rock really committed to the work from a physical standpoint and, as hard as it may be to believe, the already-fit star actually put on more muscle<\/a> for his role. Co-lead Emily Blunt (who plays Staples) said \u201cjaws dropped\u201d<\/a> when people saw Johnson\u2019s physical transformation. He even injured his elbow<\/a> while filming a particularly intense scene in which he had to break his way through some doors. (Talk about a person suffering for their art.)<\/p>\n In all seriousness, though, Dwayne Johnson seems to have relished his experience helping to tell Mark Kerr\u2019s story. Johnson previously explained that working on the film even helped him process some of his own past struggles<\/a>. Considering all of that, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if audiences were to leave the theater after seeing Smashing Machine feeling as though they witnessed a cathartic experience. Don\u2019t get me wrong, fight scenes are great, but the more intimate, life-related moments in a sports film can be even more powerful.<\/p>\n Check out The Smashing Machine \u2013 one of the biggest titles on the 2025 movie schedule<\/a> \u2013 in theaters now. Also, keep your eye on upcoming A24 movies<\/a>, as there are still some primo titles to arrive before the end of the year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: A24 Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson\u2019s latest feature film has finally arrived, as The Smashing Machine hit theaters this past week. The movie, which is directed by Josh Safdie, centers on mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2070387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[317123,26246,328254,344655,360534,387827],"class_list":["post-2070386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-feature-film","tag-johnson","tag-josh-safdie","tag-mark-kerr","tag-smashing-machine","tag-sports-film"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Rock-Explains-Why-He-Doesnt-Considering-The-Smashing-Machine.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2070386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2070388,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070386\/revisions\/2070388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2070387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2070386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2070386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2070386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n