Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson talks about his portrayal of Mark Kerr in 'The Smashing Machine'

The film isn't, it's not about fighting, it's even fighting just happens to be what he what he did and he at one time you know Stephen he was the greatest fighter on the planet. It's a love story and it's a love story about Mark and Don in this relationship and it's a love story about Mark and the love that he had for the thing that he did and his struggle with trying to deliver and his overcoming his challenges as Mark knows as we know it you know Mark he OD'd twice and he's lucky to be alive and that's why one of the many reasons why the story is special and um I I will say that uh you know the relationship part the transformation part rather was something I was really hungry to do. I had been very fortunate to have the career that I've had over the years and make the films that I've made um but I was there was just voice inside of me the little voice said well what if what if I could do more and I want to do more and what does that look like and from the beginning from the time we worked on Jungle Cruise together you know she really encouraged and believed in me and said you know there's a place that you can put all the stuff that you have gone through as a kid and I'm very close with Emily and shared a lot of everything that I've gone through and she goes and that place is what you love to do which is acting and you have me let's do this together and then Benny was on the other side of that saying hey I got you both and let's go for it so that transformation could not have happened without you know my best friend being there to uh support and encourage and just say you can do it and also I got you and Benny so thank you both love you both. I don't think my dad was um an inspiration in terms of his tenderness it wasn't really my dad he was he was he was homeless by the time he was 13 so his capacity for love was very limited and that's that's what that's the man that raised me it's tough love but I think the what Mark lived with for a very long time and I think in some ways you know he's it's why he's beautiful he works his way through this stuff is um is there's also a tremendous amount of shame involved and I think and then and I think that's that's what my dad lived with for a long time I think and then my dad suddenly passed away a few years ago in 2020 so I think that he was a man who struggled my dad but also he the part that inspired me playing Mark Kerr wasn't the shame part because we all deal with that it was more I'm hungry for something and I want to go after it and I believe in this thing and I'm going to put in the work to get it done and to do it with my own two hands that's what Mark Kerr does and that's what my dad did. Thank you for the question by the way because I always want to try to do my best to you know like remember the good stuff you know it was the opportunity to grow you know I love wrestling and I had I had such a great time being a wrestler in that performative aspect but it's also very it's very bombastic and it's very over the top and it's very you know broadcasty and so I the crowds were great I love connecting with the crowds but also what was interesting is back then when I was wrestling especially in the late 90s that's when I met Mark Kerr for the first time and he was this hero to all of us who is this man who especially has a heavyweight and he was so dominant I remember talking to Mark back then and being just so enamored and out of respect for his career and it's so wild out here we are years later and how life can come in full circle in this incredible way it is yes am I a softy yes he's kind of like pudding underneath this he's like pudding that's my nickname on weekends is I you know I think one of the the dynamic things about Mark Kerr is just that is he is he is this walking contradiction of a man who is and also just physically back then Mark and now too he's very imposing but he also had this silhouette that was very unique to Mark Kerr and in the beginning Benny I cannot believe I even asked but I said I said Dwayne I think you need to get a little and I was like how do I say this bigger puffier you know and then you just were like okay and was very specific training because if you think about it Mark and Mark as a as a amateur wrestler there's movements that he would do constantly all day that would just build certain fast twitch muscles that you know I'm in my fifth level of life I just like when Benny Safdie says hey I need you to okay I'll try it but you know he is also this contradiction that Mark is but he's also a beautiful soul and very incredibly caring and gentle and kind and and goes looks through life through this lens of being um like a childlike curiosity just really beautiful you saw when he stood up he had tears in his eyes and he's very overwhelmed by this but so I I guess I'm kind of yeah because we're both softies everybody and Benny too as well yeah no I think it's it's more about me and I what I mean by that is just internally and I have for a long time wanted this and you know we have talked we the three of us talked for a very very long time about you know when you're in Hollywood as we all know and it had become about box office and you chase the box office and and the box office in our business that we know is very loud and it can be very resounding and it could push you into a into a um into uh into a category and into a corner and and this is your lane and this is what you do and this is what people want you to be and this is what Hollywood wants you to be and and I understood that and I made those movies and I liked them and they were fun and some made some were really good and did well and some not so good um but I think what I did realize is that uh the most important thing I just had this burning desire and this this this um just voice that was saying well again what if but what if there is more what if I can and a lot of times it's harder for us to or at least for me sometimes to know what you're capable of when you've been pigeonholed into something it's harder to know wait can I do that I feel like I can it's harder to know that to know what you're capable of and sometimes it takes people who you love and you respect like Emily and Benny to say you can and and this is it and then let's go create this thing and let's go create that other thing so I don't think it's anything to prove to Hollywood as much as it's just for me now and the truth is I I looked around a few years ago and I started to think I shared this with these guys is that you know am I living my dream or am I living other people's dreams and you know you come to that recognition and I think you could either fall in line well it's status quo things are good I don't want to rock the boat or go no I want to live my dreams now and do what I want to do and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into and um I have a place finally to put all this stuff that I've experienced in the past that I've shied away from I've been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now until I had this opportunity to do this and there's yeah there's strength in that vulnerability you know I think that that's I just for me it was so amazing because I felt like I could ask you to do anything you know and the subtlest things and it would just get internalized and processed and then it would come out and then the two of you together it just kind of created this kinetic thing I would always say it was like pulling pulling these moments out of the air just like you felt it and it was just I yeah it was the best what I believe in my heart that Mark learned and I could say this with a little bit of confidence is because I've become very close to Mark and he's here and he's shared this with me and with Emily and with Benny about the thing that he learned in the beginning of the movie Mark has always talked about you know how before you get ready to do something that's important to you and that's big to you and it means a lot to you you have butterflies it's like when we were standing backstage coming out we all had butterflies it's that thing Mark had those butterflies before every fight and Mark also talked about that could become addicted addicting the feeling to that and in the beginning for Mark who is a walking contradiction of a man who was at one time the greatest fighter on the planet but also the most kind gentle tender empathetic Benny came up with a term radical empathy is what Mark Kerr is and what he embodies so this idea in the beginning he was fighting to survive and fighting to make money and fighting to make something of himself but by the end what Mark realized after his struggles with addiction after his struggles in his relationship with Dawn he doesn't win the big thing he's going after and not only does he lose but in a way he loses everything and it's okay and life goes on and you move on which is one of the reasons why Benny I thought really beautifully showed without giving it away Mark at the end and how important that was seeing him well I'm so happy you brought that up about the music by the way because that's so signature Benny Safdie and his music drops yeah and just to before I get to that just to touch on that moment I remember talking to you DJ and just being like what if all that pressure went away what if you could just experience the world without that weight on your shoulders and just let it go and then I also said there's also a very fine line between hysterically crying and hysterically laughing you know and if you hear it in the other room you might not know what it is you know but the emotions are very close and so it's it's a very emotional moment that he's going through and I think it's there's a relief of that pressure is gone and I just think that that's I love that and it's and it's okay you know these things are okay it's okay to talk about your pain it's okay to feel somebody else's feelings you know