{"id":276417,"date":"2025-11-07T03:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T03:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/276417\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T03:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T03:06:07","slug":"dwayne-johnson-on-chris-nolans-smashing-machine-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/276417\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwayne Johnson on Chris Nolan’s ‘Smashing Machine’ Reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhile presenting Benny Safdie<\/a> with a Hamilton Behind the Camera Award for directing \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d Dwayne Johnson<\/a> shared the thoughtful first reaction that Christopher Nolan<\/a> had to the biographical sports drama and its unique directing style. Talking about Safdie\u2019s bold decisions to keep the camera out of the ring and present fights from the crowded perspective of the audience, Johnson said, \u201cIt paid off the first time Christopher Nolan saw the movie and said to Benny, \u2018I mean this in the most respectful and complimentary way, but I feel like I shouldn\u2019t be watching this. I feel like I\u2019m violating their space. And it\u2019s so counterintuitive as a director. I really want to give you credit and flowers for that.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cOppenheimer\u201d director previously praised \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d<\/a> in an interview with Safdie on the \u201cDirector\u2019s Cut\u201d podcast<\/a> in October. There, he complimentarily called the film \u201cheartbreaking\u201d and Johnson\u2019s portrayal of MMA fighter Mark Kerr \u201can incredible performance.\u201d He added, \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019ll see a better performance this year or most other years.\u201d At the Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards, Johnson assured that Nolan had a strong reaction to Safdie\u2019s direction as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tSafdie was among 13 honorees at Hamilton\u2019s 14th annual Behind the Camera Awards, presented by\u00a0Variety. The awards ceremony took place on Nov. 5 at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot in Los Angeles. The other honorees were \u201cRoofman\u201d production designer Inbal Weinberg, \u201cSinners\u201d property master Douglas Ware, \u201cIs This Thing On?\u201d cinematographer Matthew Libatique, \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d costume designer Colleen Atwood, \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d editor Pamela Martin, \u201cFrankenstein\u201d hair and makeup artist Mike Hill, \u201cJay Kelly\u201d composer Nicholas Britell, \u201cRental Family\u201d screenwriters Hikari and Stephen Blahut and \u201cF1\u201d sound artists Al Nelson, Gary Rizzo and Juan Peralta. Sasheer Zamata hosted the event.<\/p>\n

\n\tEach honoree was introduced by one of their creative collaborators. Channing Tatum presented the award to Weinberg, where he reflected on how the production designer\u2019s recreation of a Toys R Us from the early 2000s evoked deep nostalgia in its meticulous detail. \u201cShe really creates environments that bring grown men to tears,\u201d the actor said. \u201cI know that some of my friends would argue I might not be a grown man, but I can promise you that there were some grisly, bearded men that had like cement bags for hands, that I swear to you got teared up when they walked into this Toys R Us. You got to watch them walk into their childhood dreams and fantasies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGuillermo del Toro delivered a similarly humorous and heartfelt introduction to Hill. He waxed nostalgia about the time that he first met the make-up artist at Monsterpalooza, a horror and special effects convention in Burbank. \u201cThe people that go there are mostly pale like me,\u201d joked del Toro. \u201cAnd like me, are mostly feed on Cheetos and very, very well versed on things that nobody cares about. But we care vehemently.\u201d He talked about how Hill\u2019s prosthetic recreation of Boris Karloff\u2019s head from James Whale\u2019s 1931 \u201cFrankenstein\u201d caught his eye and imagination. Del Toro insisted on buying the head, which birthed a collaboration that, as of this year, includes del Toro\u2019s own \u201cFrankenstein\u201d adaptation. \u201cWe just finished our Franken-sandwich,\u201d the director laughed. \u201cWe were both destined to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWeinberg and Hill, like many of the honorees, expressed deep gratitude for their crews and the other below-the-line workers who bring movies to life. After an introduction from \u201cF1\u201d director Joseph Kosinski, Nelson, Rizzo and Peralta thanked their supervising sound editor, production mixer, composer Hans Zimmer and their Skywalker sound team. \u201cThe partnership between Apple and Skywalker Sound truly highlights how a commitment to the highest of standards can bring an exceptional cinematic experience like Formula 1,\u201d said Rizzo. \u201cAnd to our crew at Skywalker Sound, thank you so much for your meticulous attention to detail and your continued pursuit of sonic excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWare similarly acknowledged his prop master team, which has remained consistent over the course of several years and projects leading up to \u201cSinners.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve got to thank my team,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the same team since Season 4 of \u2018Queen Sugar,\u2019 and then we did \u2018Nickel Boys\u2019 and then to roll right into \u2018Sinners\u2019 was just the best opportunity possible. I have to thank my crew: Melissa Waltrip, Madison Aucoin, Jasmine Hall, Drew Wahardo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLibatique concurred from the perspective of a cinematographer, saying, \u201cCinematography is such a collaborative endeavor, and this honor really belongs to everyone who helped me on \u2018Is This Thing On?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSome, such as Britell and Atwood, who were respectively introduced by Barry Jenkins and Teyana Taylor, talked about the unique experiences of their latest projects this year. Britell talked about how, for \u201cJay Kelly,\u201d director Noah Baumbach invited him to the filming location in Italy to play his developing score while the cameras were rolling. \u201cI\u2019ve never done that before, like physically gone and played on set the score ideas I was working on,\u201d said Britell. \u201cI went to Tuscany, and it was just a miraculous kind of experience, and playing the score ideas inside the movie itself was very, very wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAtwood similarly talked about the unique process of dressing Taylor and Leonardo DiCaprio on \u201cOne Battle After Another.\u201d \u201cAs a designer, I feel like I got to do some really new and interesting work, and I will never, ever be sorry that I did this job. It\u2019s just my favorite movie I\u2019ve ever worked on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHikari and Blahut, introduced by actor Steven Yeun, linked the importance of collaboration to the power of story. \u201cOur film rental family is, at its heart, a story about loneliness and belonging, especially in the age of disconnection,\u201d said Hikari. \u201cIt asks what it means to manufacture connection and yet find something deeply human in the act, in the world that feels increasingly divided.\u201d In that same spirit, Martin said of \u201cDeliver Me From Nowhere,\u201d \u201cMy greatest hope is that people watch this film and know that they don\u2019t need to suffer alone. We are all in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPoetically, collaboration and togetherness were motifs throughout the evening, as no behind the camera job is accomplished in isolation. \u201cWe\u2019re all mining this stuff together,\u201d said Safdie after accepting the award from Johnson at the end of the night. \u201cA piece of the movie exists with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While presenting Benny Safdie with a Hamilton Behind the Camera Award for directing \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d Dwayne Johnson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[23782,236,15279,4224,88,147024],"class_list":["post-276417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-benny-safdie","tag-celebrities","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-entertainment","tag-hamiltons-behind-the-camera-awards-recap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}