Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson knew that he needed to feel what his character actually went through to improve a scene.
It’s clear from his reaction to finished movie that ‘The Smashing Machine’ was an incredibly emotional project for Johnson.
The WWE star plays the role of former UFC fighter Mark Kerr in a biopic written and directed by Benny Safdie.
Early reviews of the film are very positive, with it even receiving praise from UFC president Dana White.
Johnson’s performance as Kerr has been highlighted in particular, with the Hollywood star pushing himself further than before in order to make this story as real as possible.
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Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson admits he was legitimately stunned by a punch during one ‘The Smashing Machine’ scene
Dwayne Johnson knew that playing the role of Mark Kerr would be a difficult challenge for him to take on as an actor.
However, as the fighter’s own fellow legends have praised, Johnson did whatever he could to blur the lines between where he ends and Kerr begins.
The UFC’s old tagline used to be “As Real As It Gets”, which the lead actor lived up to, as he revealed in a recent media roundtable ahead of the film’s release.
“There’s a moment in the trailer where I’m on my knees and I look up and I look dazed – that’s real,” Johnson admitted. “I got my bell rung and Benny was like, ‘Hold on, stay there.’ I was seeing three heads of Benny Safdie and 15 heads of Mark Kerr at that time.”
Johnson recalled how he had to tell his partner in that scene, who is a fighter, that he was pulling his punches too much.
It took ‘The Rock’ some time to convince his fellow actor to hit him for real, but he accomplished his goal with the help of Benny Safdie.
“I said, ‘Benny’s not cutting away, this is the end of the movie. You know this really happened to Mark. You have to lay it in. Just don’t hit me here, you’ll break my jaw. Don’t hit me in my temple, you’ll kill me. But you can hit me here in the cheek bone.'”
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Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson knew that this was a part of the challenge of ‘The Smashing Machine’
While most actors that are worth as much as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson won’t be trying to convince people to stop pulling their punches, he knew this was necessary for the scene.
He shared in the press interview that after going back to watch the footage from this particular fight, he spoke to Kerr about what he was feeling in this moment.
Johnson recalled how the former fighter had told him that the 30-40,000 people in attendance was why he continued to take punishment while not being able to move rather than quitting.
Kerr didn’t want to let anyone down, and neither did Johnson once it became clear to him that his director wanted these moments to be as authentic as possible.
“I have chills now as he was telling me that. So, the man who lived his life so we could all feel it, I knew going into that scene… Benny said, ‘I would never love to never cut away from you in these fights. We have a great stunt double. We have two. I’d love to just use you.’ And I know what that meant.”