Venice, Italy (AP) – Dwayne Johnson is making a serious turn as the UFC Fighter Mark Car in “The Smashing Machine,” which premiered the world on Monday. Venice Film Festival.
“I’ve been hoping for this for a long time,” Johnson said before the premiere. “The transformation part was something I was really hungry for. I was very fortunate to have a career I have and make the films I have, but there was this voice inside me.
The actor best known for his large budget action films and comedies has already sparked the buzz for Oscars due to his transformation in the film from Benny Safdy. The festival has announced some of the most recent best actors, Oscar winners. Brendan Fraser from “The Whale” In Adrian Brody from “Brutal.” Like both these films, “The Smashing Machine” is released by the A24.
“Our business stand is huge,” Johnson said. “And that can push you into a category and into a corner, this is your lane, and this is what you do.
But he felt there was more to give something to himself, rather than prove something to Hollywood. Taking on a new challenge was constant from his co-star and friend Emily Blunt, whom he worked with on “Jungle Cruises,” and encouraged him to draw out everything he had experienced in his life and put it in his work.
“When you drill a pigeon in something, it’s hard to know, wait, can I do it?” he said. “You need someone you know and love to say you can,” he said.
Johnson joined Venice as well as Safdi and Brandt, as well as the man he portrays in the film. Kerr, a winner of the UFC heavyweight tournament that he retired in 2009, is an MMA fighter known as “The Smashing Machine,” and Kerr also struggled with addiction to painkillers and opioids, overdose twice.
While Johnson was best known as the star of franchises like the “Jumanji” and the “Fast & Furious” series, he made his name in wrestling as a producer and business owner. The third generation wrestler has won eight WWE Championships.
“I love wrestling and had a really good time, but that’s very exaggerated,” Johnson said.
He recalls meeting Carr in the late 1990s and says how much he respects him. He said the film feels like a perfect circle moment.
“The Smashing Machine” took place between 1997 and 2000. His relationship with his then girlfriend Dawnstaples was particularly volatile.
Blunt also learned about her counterpart and began to spend time. She said she was excited to show her “all-weather system” of the relationship.
“I was essentially part of a lot of relationships that are more curated with film and cinematic relationships,” Brandt said. “This felt like a complete spectrum of what a relationship really looked like, because humans changed within an hour.
She said it was extraordinarily “creepy” to see Johnson disappearing completely into the role. Prosticks was designed by master makeup artist Kazuhiro. Kazuhiro helped Bradley Cooper turn Leonard Berndstein and Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera said last week that he would not be surprised to see Johnson, which he called in the film “absolutely surprising” and that he would not be surprised to hear that it was dull among Oscar nominees next year.
“Until this opportunity I had, I was going deeper, getting more intense, and I was scared to go live up until now,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Safdy said Kerr had changed their lives.
“It’s so beautiful to shine a light on him and learn from his experiences,” Safdi said.
Safdie is also an actor, recently starring in “Oppenheimer” and “Happy Gilmore 2” and is a filmmaker alongside his older brother Josh and Codirected. “Uncut gem.”
In a director’s statement on the “Smashing Machine,” Safdi called the title “a simple reminder of the onomatopaia perfect for the visual, an image of domination and destruction.”
This film was played in the main contest. “Frankenstein”“Bagonia” “The Voice of Hindrajab” “Lagrazia and “There’s no other option” are also competing for top awards, including acting and director’s best. The winners will be announced on September 6th.
The Smashing Machine will open at a theater in North America on October 3rd.
___
For more information about the 2025 Venice Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival.
