Dwayne Johnson Is UFC Icon Mark Kerr

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson steps out of the WWE ring and into the UFC Octagon in a new trailer for The Smashing Machine, where he portrays UFC icon Mark Kerr. Benny Safdie wrote and directed the movie, which also features Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Ritten, and Oleksandr Usyk.

Kerr is a two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion, whose momentous life was previously chronicled in the 2002 HBO documentary “The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr.” The roots of the feature film go back to 2019 when Johnson’s production company landed the rights to Kerr’s life story. He reached out to Safdie to helm the project, but the pandemic soon put the entire motion picture industry on indefinite hold.

It didn’t get going again until Emily Blunt, who starred with Johnson in 2021’s Jungle Cruise, brought it up to Safdie when they worked together in 2023’s Oppenheimer. Things happened very quickly from there.

“Benny wants to create, and continues to push the envelope when it comes to stories that are raw and real, characters that are authentic and at times uncomfortable and arresting,” Johnson told Variety. “I’m at a point in my career where I want to push myself in ways that I’ve not pushed myself in the past. I’m at a point in my career where I want to make films that matter, that explore a humanity and explore struggle [and] pain.”

The Smashing Machine trailer spotlights Kerr’s dominance in the UFC ring, his addiction to painkillers, his tumultuous relationship with girlfriend Dawn Staples (Blunt), and the toll that decades of fights took on his body. It’s the first movie that Benny Safdie has directed without his brother, Josh Safdie.

The movie hits theaters on October 3. It’s the first project of Johnson’s long career that’s stirred up talk of an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Next up for Johnson is a live-action adaptation of Moana where he’ll play the flesh-and-blood version of his character Maui from the animated films.