At the Venice Film Festival on Monday, Benny Safdie's captivating film, "The Smashing Machine," starring Dwayne Johnson as the legendary mixed martial arts and UFC fighter Mark Kerr, delivered a resounding knockout blow. The A24 production made its world premiere inside the grand Sala Grande, sparking an eruption of enthusiasm from the audience, who stood and applauded for an impressive 15 minutes.
For Johnson, this was a night to remember, as Mark Kerr himself made the journey to Venice for the screening, joined by co-star Emily Blunt. Amidst chants of "DJ," "Benny," and "Emily," the audience went into a frenzy, with Johnson, Blunt, Safdie, and Kerr all moved to tears by the emotional scenes on screen. Even Seth Rogen, an unexpected guest, couldn't contain his excitement, cheering and hollering while holding a camera, snapping photos throughout the standing ovation.
Safdie's film charts Kerr's journey from the pinnacle of fame to the depths of despair and back again. Inside the octagonal ring, Kerr dominated his opponents, becoming one of the most powerful fighters the sport had ever seen. Outside the ring, however, he battled his own demons, struggling with a dependency on painkillers that almost derailed his career. Blunt stars as Dawn Staples-Kerr, the love of Kerr's life, reuniting with Johnson after their more family-friendly Disney film, "The Jungle Cruise."
The ensemble cast of "The Smashing Machine" features a range of first-time actors, including mixed martial artist Ryan Bader as Kerr's rival-turned-mentor Mark Coleman, and a host of modern-day fighters such as Oleksandr Usyk, Satoshi Ishii, James Moontasril, Paul Cheng, Cyborg Abreu, Andre Tricoteux, and Marcus Aurélio.
This world premiere marked a significant moment for Johnson, one of Hollywood's most successful movie stars, as he ventured outside the franchise world that has made him famous to take a chance on a character-driven arthouse drama. It was also a new direction for Safdie, marking his first solo directorial effort after collaborating with his brother, Josh Safdie, on previous films.
Safdie directed "The Smashing Machine" from a script he wrote, crediting Johnson with bringing him the idea for the film. The project gained momentum after Safdie watched "The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr," a 2002 documentary. In the film's press notes, Safdie recalled, "He approached me, I think, in 2019, to possibly do this movie. I watched the documentary about Mark and instantly fell in love with him. I couldn't believe he existed. There was something about him that I felt like I understood. Mark's complexity intrigued me, and so did Dwayne. He has a certain public image, but as he spoke to me about Mark and this movie, I realized there was a whole other side to him that we could explore together."
"The Smashing Machine" is set for release by A24 on October 3. The Venice Film Festival runs from August 27 to September 6.
