#dwayne-johnson

#dwayne-johnson

In other words, Rutten had scripted lines, but was playing a younger version of himself. Mind you, director Benny Safdie didn't require Rutten to stick to the script. Rather, he gave the retired fighter a massive amount of leeway to make the role his own. So while Rutten did get a script and lines, he told Cageside Press recently, "those are just for your guidelines," the director informed him. "I want you to do what you do, because it's you! Why would I change it?"

There was a ruptured Achilles tendon, a complete shoulder reconstruction and either four or five knee surgeries he can't remember how many. And then there was the match with John Cena which left him spitting up blood. "I landed in a way that really, for the moment, damaged my lungs and blood vessels," Johnson says. That fight was the last of his official WWE career.

The Smashing Machine, which Safdie both wrote and directed, portrays Mark (the character, as distinguished from the real-life Kerr) from the time of his first bout in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, in 1997, to 2000. The period begins with victories and growing fame-though his achievements are shadowed and threatened by substance-abuse issues and conflict with his girlfriend, Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt)-and peters out with his climactic defeat in a big-money tournament that owes its high financial stakes to his earlier success.

There are people-pleasers and then there is this affable brawler-turned-actor, who appears to regard the contentment of the world's multiplex-goers as his personal responsibility. Whether in vehicles comic (Central Intelligence, Baywatch), family-oriented (Jumanji, Jungle Cruise), four-wheeled (the Fast & Furious series) or disaster-based (San Andreas, Skyscraper), he is a rip-roaring razzle-dazzler, shiny of scalp and tooth, and so colossal that he isn't merely the circus showman but the whole damn big top too.

Release dates aren't as reliable as they used to be. In an era where script issues, worldwide events, and industry strikes have postponed movies for years, no theatrical release date is secure, and getting your hopes up can lead to disappointment. Usually, though, the start of a movie's production is a sign that things are headed in the right direction, and fans can get (cautiously) optimistic.