Dwayne Johnson is trading Hollywood action for something far rawer in The Smashing Machine, Benny Safdie’s first solo directorial feature. Gone is the polished action hero; in his place, Johnson transforms—prosthetics, Ohio accent and all—into real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr, a man whose battles outside the cage were just as brutal as those inside.
A24 dropped the first trailer for the biopic, teasing a side of Johnson audiences haven’t seen before. Set at the turn of the millennium, The Smashing Machine charts Kerr’s rise as a UFC champion and his descent into addiction. “Winning is the best feeling there is. It’s 40,000 people, and they are cheering you on. There’s no other high like it in the world,” Kerr (played by Johnson) says in the trailer. But that high comes at a cost.
Emily Blunt stars as Dawn Staples, Kerr’s partner, in her second collaboration with Johnson after Jungle Cruise. But The Smashing Machine marks a stark tonal shift. Blunt reportedly helped link Johnson with Safdie after working with the director on Oppenheimer. The result? A stripped-down, emotionally charged film that focuses more on pain and humanity than punches.
Safdie, best known for co-directing Uncut Gems and Good Time, is stepping into the solo spotlight with a script he co-wrote alongside Kerr himself. The story draws heavily from the 2002 HBO documentary of the same name, diving deep into the fighter’s personal turmoil, painkiller dependency, fractured relationships, and the crushing weight of expectation.
Johnson, who’s long been synonymous with blockbuster spectacle, says he was ready to take a risk. “I want to make films that matter, that explore a humanity and explore struggle [and] pain,” he told Variety. It’s a bold pivot, but if the trailer is any indication, the gamble has clearly paid off—Johnson looks fully immersed in a role unlike anything he’s done before.
Produced by A24, the film also features appearances from Bas Rutten, Lyndsey Gavin, and Oleksandr Usyk. It lands in theaters October 3. You can watch the trailer below.
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