A24 has released a first look at Dwayne Johnson in the upcoming film, The Smashing Machine, from writer and director Benny Safdie which also stars Emily Blunt.
The Rock plays MMA fighter Mark Kerr who fought in the early no-holds-barred iterations of the UFC, Pride and other various MMA tournaments in the 90’s.
Kerr chronicled his life in the documentary of the same name (below) that was released in 2002 that told the story of his training and competing, as well as his volatile relationship with his wife.
As we see in the image above, Dwayne Johnson underwent some sort of transformation to achieve the look of Mark Kerr. Gone are The Rock’s tattoos; hair has been added, and his face looks different.
The image also features a look at Emily Blunt at the bottom right who co-stars in the movie as Dawn Staples, the wife of Kerr.
The Smashing Machine doesn’t have a release date as of yet.
Johnson recently posted about the film on Instagram.
“My training camp became complete when the man himself, Mark Kerr @markkerrtsm trained with us,” posted Johnson. “He’s still a fucking machine, that can close the distance with scary speed and power. I’ll forever be grateful to the core for our his invaluable knowledge he’s been gracious enough to pass onto me and especially for the brotherhood we share.”
Johnson continued, “Locking up with Mark, and feeling his press and power – it’s no surprise he was an NCAA, UFC & VALE TUDO Heavyweight Champion. That’s the A side to success. The B side tells a whole other story.”
The Rock added, “Thank you everyone for all your incredible support thru this intense process and journey. Production begins filming this week.”
