Awards Circuit Podcast<\/a>, Johnson gets candid about his journey into the role, the emotional toll of going to dark places, the physical transformation that nearly broke him and his evolving sense of fatherhood and purpose. Listen below!<\/p>\n\n\tRead excerpts from the edited and condensed version below.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tDwayne Johnson in \u2018The Smashing Machine\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCheryl Dunn\/Courtesy I Wonder<\/p>\n
\t\tYour performance is incredible, and it feels like something like this has been inside you, just wanting to get out. What was it about Mark Kerr\u2019s story that made you say, \u201cYes, I have to do this\u201d?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tThank you so much for that. I really appreciate it. And you\u2019re right. I feel like this has, for me, been brewing inside of me for some time \u2014 just this idea of: \u2018Wait, I think I can do more. I feel like I want to do more.\u2019 And then it comes\u2026 and then I\u2019m going to do it with Benny Safdie. And then I start to get a little cold feet \u2014 \u2018Wait, can I do more?\u2019 You know?<\/p>\n
\n\tBut you\u2019re right about needing that person to say, \u2018Hey, not only can you, and I believe you can, but walk down this road with me and see what I see.\u2019 And here\u2019s the cliff. Jump off. Hopefully the parachute opens. But he was like, \u2018I got you, though,\u2019 right? That was the thing. \u2018I got you.\u2019 There\u2019s the cliff, there\u2019s the ocean of waves \u2014 it seems like you can\u2019t swim them \u2014 but he said, \u2018I got you.\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\tThe movie isn\u2019t really about the big fight \u2014 it\u2019s about a man fighting himself. What was the core story to you?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tYes, that\u2019s real life, I feel. That\u2019s what Benny wanted to make. He wanted to make a movie about human vulnerability and real life. It\u2019s easier and sexier to go after, \u2018Hey, he\u2019s fighting for the championship of the world. He wins it, he gets everything \u2014 money, fame.\u2019 But this version? This is before UFC became the UFC. MMA was just starting.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou had a guy in Mark Kerr \u2014 this beast of a human being. A walking contradiction: the most lethal on the planet, but also the sweetest, tender, and kind. From Benny\u2019s perspective, he felt like the good thing about our movie is, if we do it right, he works his ass off for everything \u2014 and he loses. Not only does he lose\u2026 sorry to spoil it a bit \u2014 but he loses everything. And ODs twice. He\u2019s lucky to be alive.<\/p>\n
\n\tThat speaks to Benny\u2019s DNA. He loses everything, but at the end, it\u2019s okay. At the end, it wins.<\/p>\n
\t\tLet\u2019s talk about that transformation. You\u2019ve always been in incredible shape, but how different was preparing to become Mark Kerr?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tThis transformation was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done. There was a physical transformation, prosthetics, vocal transformation \u2014 he has a very specific way of talking.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen I first got together with Benny, we watched tapes of Mark, and Benny said, \u2018I want to film this and never cut away from you.\u2019 I knew what that meant. He said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to cut away. I want to shoot this cin\u00e9ma v\u00e9rit\u00e9, with a prowling camera. You have a great stunt double, but I don\u2019t want to use him.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\tSo I said, \u2018Okay. If Mark gets punched, I\u2019m getting punched.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\tThen he says, \u2018DJ, I don\u2019t know if anyone\u2019s told you this\u2026 but you need to gain weight.\u2019 I went, \u2018Okay.\u2019 I felt that too. Give me 24 hours. I came back, and we looked at Mark again \u2014 and realized, his body is a unicorn. I had to put on 30 pounds. Benny said he wanted me to look a bit \u201cpuffy,\u201d and I agreed.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut it\u2019s not just gaining weight. It\u2019s putting on a quality of muscle that has fast-twitch capacity. He\u2019s a wrestler. It\u2019s not about bodybuilding. I\u2019ve never done so much trap and neck work in my life. Old-school wrestlers with no necks? That\u2019s what I had to do. And I held that weight for three and a half months. Then, two weeks later, I had to roll into \u2018Moana.\u2019 So it was Mark Kerr and Maui. Big dudes.<\/p>\n
\t\tEmily Blunt delivers an astonishing performance. What\u2019s it like working with her?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tEmily is my greatest inspiration. It\u2019s one thing to be a great actor \u2014 which she is \u2014 but it\u2019s her humanity that makes her so impactful. She makes it look easy. But the scenes we had? So hard. So raw. So intense.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe house we were in was built from scratch. Real water. Real lighting. Benny made it just so we could hide the cameras \u2014 so we never saw the camera during those scenes. We\u2019d go into these emotionally violent places, and Benny made it feel like we were just there. Just living it.<\/p>\n
\n\tMaseo Bishop, our DP and operator \u2014 he\u2019s hidden, behind walls. You don\u2019t even see him. There were no lighting setups. Just life. That\u2019s why you feel like you\u2019re sneaking into our house while watching it. Christopher Nolan saw it and said, \u2018I feel like I shouldn\u2019t be watching this.\u2019 What a compliment.<\/p>\n
\t\tYou knew Mark Kerr back in the 90s, right?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tI did. In the mid-90s. I started wrestling in \u201896 after my football career ended. In \u201897-\u201898, whenever we wrestled in LA, we all went to the same gym. That\u2019s where I met Mark, Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Don Frye. Legends.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt the time, I was Rocky Maivia, and it wasn\u2019t going well. I was getting booed. These guys? Fighting for Pride in Japan and making real money. I remember saying to Mark, \u2018Hey man, if I ever want to talk to you about this stuff, is that okay?\u2019 He said, \u2018Absolutely.\u2019 I was a jabroni, and he was like, \u2018Good for you, kid.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\tBut what I didn\u2019t know then was what he was struggling with \u2014 addiction, depression, shame. You look at him and think he\u2019s on top of the world. But that\u2019s the lesson: you never know what someone\u2019s going through.<\/p>\n
\t\tThere\u2019s a line in the film: \u201cI never lost.\u201d And you can feel the weight behind that denial. What did that line mean to you personally?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIt meant everything. Once I crossed this line into dramatic work, I knew I\u2019d have to go to dark places \u2014 into trauma, pain, stuff I didn\u2019t want to touch for years. I\u2019m not big on therapy. I\u2019ve talked to a few, had great convos, but I\u2019m an only child. Like a lot of men, I hold it in. So unhealthy. But I knew, if I was going to do this, I had to open myself up.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis movie gave me a place to put all that stuff. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s method \u2014 whatever it is \u2014 I went for it.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd thank God I had Mark. He OD\u2019d twice. He\u2019s still here. I could talk to him: \u2018Hey man, what were you thinking?\u2019 And he\u2019d say, \u2018I never lost.\u2019 But the truth is, the win became the enemy. The pressure became toxic. The movie isn\u2019t about winning or losing. It\u2019s about pressure \u2014 and how we survive it.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat\u2019s your message for people right now who feel like the world is on fire?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tI\u2019m happy to share something I\u2019ve learned recently. My uncle said to me a couple of months ago: \u2018It\u2019s going to be okay. We\u2019re going to be okay.\u2019 That stuck with me.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd I\u2019ll add something from Benny. He coined a term while we were filming: \u2018radical empathy.\u2019 If you can feel empathy for someone who looks invincible \u2014 like Mark Kerr \u2014 then you can feel it for anyone. And once you have that, the judging starts to go away. The noise dies down.<\/p>\n
\n\tThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been telling my daughter Simone \u2014 we\u2019re going through something. I said, \u2018It\u2019s going to be okay. Let\u2019s talk. We\u2019ve got this.\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\tWill The Rock ever run for president?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s wild, man. I\u2019m always honored when people ask that. I love what I do. I love storytelling. But yeah\u2026 we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlso on this episode, Chase Infiniti, the breakout star from \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d from writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson.<\/p>\n
\n\tVariety\u2019s \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI finally had a place to put all that stuff.\u201d Dwayne Johnson is still processing the rapturous reception…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[88640,49,48,361,31998,75,56312],"class_list":{"0":"post-173116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-awards-circuit-podcast","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-dwayne-johnson","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-the-smashing-machine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}