"Few movies have represented a turning point in an actor's career quite like The Smashing Machine. Written and directed by Benny Safdie, the A24 release stars Dwayne Johnson (cue the booming movie trailer voice) like you've never seen him before, in this case playing real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr, who took plenty of blows outside the ring as well as in it."
"There's another layer to this, though, which is that it's a lot easier for actors like Robert De Niro or Cate Blanchett to find real historical figures to play than it is for, say, actors like Johnson. That's because Johnson is a performer whose very specific physical type has made him easy casting for movies like Doom, Rampage, and movies that aren't exactly based on video games but feel like they are anyway."
The Smashing Machine, written and directed by Benny Safdie and released by A24, stars Dwayne Johnson as real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Playing a real person in a biopic offers a route to prestige acting through physical transformation and rigorous research. Johnson's established physical type led to casting in video-game-style action films, while his charisma enabled shifts from villains to lovable heroes. Television work on Ballers functioned as acting training. The Smashing Machine presents a different, gritty challenge that Johnson meets admirably.
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