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In a recent feature article about writer, director, and actor Benny Safdie (Good Time, Uncut Gems, The Curse, Oppenheimer), Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson pops up for a handful of paragraphs to discuss their upcoming project, the A24 film The Smashing Machine.
Based on the life of former MMA fighter Mark Kerr, A24 is already hailing the film as Johnson’s “most dramatic project and role yet.”
As for why the megastar is choosing to take on the most serious role of his career, Johnson says it’s because he’s at a point in his career where he “wants to make films that matter.”
“I’m at a point in my career where I want to push myself in ways that I’ve not pushed myself in the past. I’m at a point in my career where I want to make films that matter, that explore a humanity and explore struggle [and] pain,” The Rock told Variety.
“I want to be clear not to say that this is an abandonment of big, four-quadrant movies. I love making them, and there is tremendous value and importance in [them] … but there’s a time and a place for them. I’m at this point in my career where I want more. And I don’t mean I want more box office. I mean I want more humanity. And that is why Benny Safdie is the perfect, collaborative, hungry partner for me.
The Rock is also undeniably a very smart dude who certainly pays attention to what the culture thinks of him, as his recent films Red Notice, Black Adam, and Fast X have all felt specifically hollow and dollar-focused. Black Adam also being tied up in the death of the DCEU didn’t help, either.
Likely knowing this, now is the perfect time for the 51-year-old to remind moviegoers that he actually does have acting chops, similar to what his former Baywatch co-star Zac Efron pulled off thanks to his performance in The Iron Claw.
Looking through The Rock’s filmography, you have to go back to 2006 to find The Rock in a straight-up drama as he starred in both Gridiron Gang (mildly successful) and Southland Tales (a disaster).
From there, he starts making family movies like The Game Plan, Tooth Fair, and Race to Witch Mountain, and comedies such as The Other Guys and Get Smart.
Once the 2010s rolled around, The Rock began to truly establish himself as an action star with roles in Fast Five, G.I. Joe, Faster, Snitch, and Hercules. The mid-2010s is when The Rock really hit his stride as a movie star with projects such as Furious 7, Central Intelligence, Moana, The Fate of the Furious, Baywatch, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Rampage, and Skyscraper.
Now, with his blockbuster box office empire already built, The Rock is looking for something that challenges him more as a performer, which is something that The Smashing Machine will certainly do.