Dwayne Johnson Gained 30lbs of Muscle for Smashing Machine Role, Pillow Fights Jimmy with Mark Kerr

You look great, but what good to see you good to see you guys. Yeah, I Can't wait to talk about your new film the smashing machine. Yeah, but first I always have to ask how's mom doing? Oh, man, my mom is great. I love her so much. She's good. My mom loves you My mom and Jimmy go way way back She's the coolest she's the cutest and she's the most talented she plays the ukulele She will not only does she play the ukulele, but she she brings the ukulele Everywhere she goes she does then she would make you guys get up and start. Can you bring mom next time you come on? I she would love that right She's the best If not that then in a video then I'll take it. I'll settle for a video. I was gonna say easy Jimmy. I'm sorry How's your daughter? Oh daughters are great Simone who's 24. I had her with me in Europe her and her partner Tatiana. Oh So cool to spend time there my seven-year-old I got all daughters I'm a girl dad my seven-year-old the light of my life my my nine-year-old Jazzy just had her first flag football game. Oh And She's super fast. She's an athlete and she plays wide out but she also blocks and she you know She does those crack back blocks So she wound up crack backing one of the players and kind of pushing him down and like oh my god Yeah, and then so she came to me I was on the sidelines cuz I'm that dad and I'm like right there and she comes over and she's like, you know The coach told me not to not to not to push anybody down like that The other coach are there and the other team I said listen you push them down and you keep them down Let's talk about the smashing machine, yeah, I'm gonna read a couple reviews here you can plug your ears if you want to Variety says Dwayne Johnson is a revelation. That's variety Mashable Mashable says Dwayne Johnson delivers a career-changing performance We get BBC says Dwayne Johnson is Oscar worthy in his new The smashing machine received a 15 and a half minute standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival Man, oh man, what did that? That was so That was emotional. I was really emotional for that yeah, it really was because you know You make this film the smashing machine and with with not attached to an outcome or a response So I thought it's all new stuff to me and that's the truth and so I went over there to Venice Film Festival and we're in competition and and I'm Floating as it is and and then you know I'm I get there on Saturday and the premiere of smashing machine is on Monday and we're in Venice and I'm looking through my phone at these other movies that are debuting and that are getting these standing ovations like six minutes and yeah ten minutes and I'm thinking god, how do I don't are we gonna get a minute or Do I have to clap for myself yeah, and There's cards at the end of our movie before the credits roll and one of the cards says You know, it says before this these fighters today they make millions of dollars and everyone knows their name, but His name was Marker That place I have chills Erupted for 15 and a half minutes and before the credits even rolled and the lights come on and I'm crying I'm trying to clear my tears away and Emily's crying and we just Benny's after your director was crying And by the way, Marker who I sat next to Watching and this is his life and he's a big guy and our bodies are here and he was shaking the whole time It's a very intense emotional film and it was I was so happy for him for Mark because It was his validation that despite your struggles despite the fact you Overdose twice and you're still here. He's lucky to be alive Things turned out. Okay, and you are an inspiration to everybody. So that's what that that's what that applause man. Yeah Congrats on this Your performances is amazing. Some people work their whole careers to get a performance like this You have two great reviews. You were amazing I didn't I know it's you but I didn't recognize you had a different accent you had prosthetics on did yes, so we had a physical transformation Certainly an emotional transformation and a vocal transformation too as well But I did there was about 22 prosthetics from Kazuhiro who's an Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup artist Yeah, maybe 22 prosthetics. I had to put on 30 pounds Over just over 30 pounds of muscle, which is which by the way What you realize is it I wish now you have some actors and there are friends who say I had to put on weight I went to McDonald's every day Mark Kerr had like just this quality of muscle like fast twitch quality muscle because he was a wrestler Yeah and I had to still put on this weight still be able to move like an MMA fighter and it was about 30 pounds and But you had to put on different like your shoulders. It will he Marker his his silhouette was just and being a wrestler always going in for the double leg takes down takedowns and lifting guys up He had these massive shoulders his neck was huge his chest his quads I mean he was it was a lot and by the way, our writer-director Benny Safdie who knows the best and He he said to me. Hey DJ. I don't I don't know how to tell you this I don't know if you've ever heard this he goes, um, you're gonna have to get bigger Yeah, believe it or not dude and I went okay And Benny won for best director yeah, so we have our debut and in Venice Film Festival and we get that incredible 15 and a half minute ovation and then we go home and Benny is one of these guys. He he texts he texts like he talks, right? You know those guys Exactly. And so he texts me he goes. Well, I'm going back to Venice dot dot dot and I don't know why dot dot dot And then he winds up winning Best director of all the Venice Film Festival. Yeah How did you end up working with Benny Safdie, I love his work, oh my god So we I had just watched I love his work, too I just watched uncut gems in 2019 and I went to Benny and I said hey I got this idea called the smashing machine and it's based off a documentary based on your Autor style of being a director and how bold I think you are I think you'd be great at at directing this and writing it and then we agreed to do it and then kovat hit So unbeknownst to me Benny is when you guys see the movie. There's a there's a yellow Nautica sweater That's one of these iconic sweaters from Nautica that markers wearing in the documentary Benny in 2019 once we agreed to make the smashing machine he Finds the sweater online Triple X sends it to me with a written letter and said I'm gonna be so honored to work with you wear this and you will Become mark her. Here's your inspiration as an actor. Well, I never got the sweater And I never got the letter. So he thought I ghosted him and he's like I never heard from him again. I was like, wow, what happened? I thought we were gonna make this thing and then lo and behold. He's working with Emily Blunt on Oppenheimer and He goes, hey, you're good friends with DJ and Emily said yeah, he's one of my best friends And he said did you ever get the sweater? I sent him. Could you ask him? So She asked me She goes. Hey, are you guys working together? I said, well we had this project called smashing machine I think it could be really cool. She goes I'm gonna connect you guys. She connected us via text. I was like brother I never got the sweater. He's like, I don't know what happened to it But let's do this together smashing machine and we make this movie with Emily Blunt and we're here in Falun talking to you And talking to you It is This is you this is Dwayne as Mark Kerr right there Yeah, I mean just a beast. He was a beast of a man Yeah, and these fighting scenes by the way, I don't know. I obviously you're gonna tell me the answer I don't know it to this point. They seem real. Okay, so Benny had Yes, dude, yes, so Benny has this motto before we started shooting which was as real as it gets Let's make it as real as it gets and then he said to me he goes I would love in these fighting scenes to never cut away from you and I would like to not use your stunt double Well, I know what that means. That means I'm getting my ass kicked. Yeah I'm getting rocked and I said absolutely, let's do it and I Aside from putting on the 30 pounds of Mark Kerr muscle I went through a three three-month training camp MMA fighters MMA coaches as well because I had to really had to look the part and There's a totally different style. There's a scene at the end where it and this happened in real life. Mark Kerr is in Japan He's fighting in front of 30,000 people and he's fighting against a fighter named Fujita Markers on all fours Fujita is just wailing away on a marker is not moving But the cameras right there in this documentary and he's with it. He's not knocked out. He's not loopy he's just like this and he's taking every hit and I said to Benny are we gonna that's how we're gonna shoot this thing. He goes. Yes So I I told our I told our fighter who why did I bring that up? Yeah, thanks Jimmy But I said to our fighter I said, hey brother, I know it sounds crazy But you you got hit me you have to hit me and he is a Japanese fighter. Very respectful. He goes. No No, no, I will not hit you. He refused to hit me and I finally said, please we have one shot at this you must hit me and Benny came over and said you must hit him and and then but then he said I know you respect DJ but I know you respect the fight that actually happened with Mark Kerr in Japan Let's stay let's keep our integrity and wail away so you'll see in the movie He's rocking me over and over and over again. It's like how is this I go I have to ask you because it was it was wild So after that fight you see me and I'm kind of I look like I'm loopy. That's because I had a concussion Yeah, but but it's it's the thing you got to do you realize because you're gonna make an MMA movie You you gotta go all the way and that's what we did with this play the part you have to man and then here can You explain this photo here. This is oh, yeah, this is you're inducting Mark Kerr into the UFC Hall of Fame. Yeah We were done in Vegas and And Mark got inducted into the Hall of Fame and and you know, here's the thing For you guys who aren't familiar with Mark Kerr There was a documentary about his life in the mid 2000 early to mid 2000s at the end of that documentary he loses and he loses everything and The documentary in and so you think for a guy like that like wow for the last 20 something years That's my legacy. Like that's what my legacy is. So it was such a cool honor I called Dana White who's been a longtime friend of mine and I said, what do you think brother? Do you think is this possible and he's like yes It is possible and for everything that Mark Kerr has done for our For our sport and being one of the Godfathers to be an honor for us to induct him in the Hall of Fame So that was a really special moment All right, how do we set up where we are in this scene here and Yeah markers life, yeah, so right now with markers like we're Mark, our movie takes place in about a three-year period and it was at a time where mark at that time Like Mike Tyson at his height He was undefeated and he was the greatest MMA fighter on the planet and he was and he never lost until this moment what you'll see in the scene and he He was he was widely feared But he also the anchor of his life was the love of his life Don Staples with his girlfriend played by the great Emily Blunt and They had this volcanic Relationship and we've all been there. We all know you get behind closed doors with your loved ones things can change instantly and you have these very raw fights as Emily and I did as Mark and Don did in their life and and And you guys will see in this clip he's fighting his big fight in Japan and His girlfriend Dawn shows up and he invited her but like a lot of fighters when they get in that zone It's hard for them to break out of it And unfortunately, sometimes when you get in that zone you treat people who love you the most you treat them the worst And that's what happened. Oh, I want to show everyone a clip. Here's Dwayne Johnson in the smashing machine. Take a look at this Stupid come in in here. It's like you guys were talking or something. It flew halfway across the globe. You asked me to come I said, thank you. Oh, yeah, and then you act like a dick in front of your friend. Don't call me next time Please don't come I'm lonely Trying to focus it has nothing to do with you Punch you in the face, but yeah Could we communicate? I'm so sorry. We are ready for downstairs. Please. Just come with me. Yeah. Thank you You're out of control, I'm sorry Before you Before you go. I just wanted to apologize because last time you were here Yes, things got a little out of control with us. Apologize. I like I'm sorry I'm really sorry cuz I know we're friends when things got a little heated and I thought that you were gonna do the same thing I was gonna do but I didn't know that you weren't but I'll show you I didn't know I was either I didn't Know is that but here's a clip from Dwayne's last appearance on the show. Here you go. No, come on I Wow, that was it. What is the blue? just I Covered you in feathers. I didn't know I thought you had a breakaway pillow. Yeah, is that what you thought? Yes Mine break away. Unfortunately, I left with nothing on me and it well listen, here's the thing, you know me We've known each other for 20 years. I forgive thank you. I forgive I forgive. Thank you, but I don't forget With a little a little pillow, but you know, here's the here's the thing because I don't forget I think I'm gonna need a little help So ladies and gentlemen the real smashing machine. Mr. Marker What do you think I back I got your back all the time shall we yeah, yeah, shall we yeah, shall we yeah Two one We see his fears this Friday