Self proclaimed “hardest working man in Hollywood,” Dwayne Johnson, has been filming his upcoming biopic The Smashing Machine, about former Wrestler and UFC fighter, Mark Kerr, but apparently he may have taken the smashing a bit too literally. Directed by Benny Safdie in his first solo effort after leaving the duo that was “The Safdie Bros,” Johnson recently posted a video to Instagram showing his battered elbow.
“Any time your film is called The Smashing Machine, you’re kind of going to get smashed up,” Johnson said.
Mark Kerr, like many professional fighters and wrestlers of that era (1970s-1990s) began heavily using pain killers which led to his downfall, but he is still viewed as one of the pioneers of the UFC, with UFC hall of Famer, Mark Coleman, lauding Kerr for his “devastating ground and pound technique.”
The film sees Johnson in, what can be argued, as his first entirely ‘serious’ role, as he will act alongside Emily Blunt as well as Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk, who recently defeated Tyson Fury to become world heavyweight champion.
Director Benny Safdie recently made The Curse, alongside Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder, a show which Christopher Nolan called “unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.” Emma Stone is set to produce another one of Safdie’s upcoming projects.
Benny’s brother and former directorial partner, Josh, is set to work with Adam Sandler again after their anxiety inducing Uncut Gems (2019) (directed alongside Benny), which gave Sandler his best performance of all time, correctly proving what many fans had suspected all along: yes, the Sandman can act.
And if you want some terrific, albeit morose, wrestling biopics, then I recommend the criminally underrated Foxcatcher (2014), starring an Oscar nominated Steve Carrel in the devastating true story of American Olympic wrestlers in the ’80s and ’90s; last year’s The Iron Claw, yet another heartbreaking true story about American wrestlers, featuring a career defining performance by Zac Efron; and, naturally, The Wrestler (2008), starring Mickey Rourke.
