Venice Knockout: Dwayne Johnson’s “The Smashing Machine” Gets 15-Minute Standing Ovation at Venice Film Festival

Dwayne Johnson might have entered the Oscars ring.

The star got a very Oscar-friendly reception at the Venice Film Festival on Monday night, where he was on hand for the world premiere of Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine. Johnson stars as MMA legend Mark Kerr, sporting a prosthetic and an accent, marking an intriguing career pivot into prestige films. The result? A 15-minute standing ovation from the audience, leaving the 53-year-old performer in tears as he soaked in one of the most prolonged, sustained applause at the festival this year.

Johnson, formerly a WWE wrestler known and beloved as The Rock, has taken a turn for the serious in Safdie’s film after leading tentpole fare like Black Adam and Jungle Cruise, which starred Johnson and his The Smashing Machine co-star, Emily Blunt. This is a decisive career pivot for Johnson, who is not likely to stop flexing his performing muscles now that he’s gotten to stretch as the tormented fighter Kerr, one of the seminal early stars of the UFC, a two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion who was the central figure in a 2002 HBO doc (also titled The Smashing Machine) which centered on his legendary career and his significant troubles, specifically an addiction to the painkillers he took to endure his chosen profession. This taste of a prestige film project is just the start for Johnson, who is part of a potential all-star cast for a projected Martin Scorsese-directed gangster film set in Hawaii.

The first trailer showcased a partially changed Johnson, who, despite needing no help in the physique department to depict an MMA fighter, is sporting facial prosthetics and a flatter Ohio accent, creating just enough of a modification that the global superstar does start to get lost inside the character of Kerr. Set to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” the trailer not only highlights Johnson’s transformation into Kerr but also Emily Blunt’s performance as his wife, Dawn.

Blunt is the person who connected Safdie and Johnson after co-starring with Safdie in Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer. 

The Smashing Machine is Benny Safdie’s first solo directorial effort. Until now, he has co-directed his previous A24 films, Good Time and Uncut Gems, with his brother Josh. 

Speaking with Variety, Johnson has explained what drew him to explore this film with Safdie: “Benny wants to create, and continues to push the envelope when it comes to stories that are raw and real, characters that are authentic and at times uncomfortable and arresting. 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 Venice crowd certainly appreciated Johnson’s performance in the film.

The Smashing Machine hits theaters on October 3.

Featured image: Dwayne Johnson in “The Smashing Machine.” Courtesy A24