Dwayne Johnson opened up about how portraying Mark Kerr in his upcoming movie, The Smashing Machine, "has changed his life". Set to hit theaters on October 3, the biopic tells the story of 56-year-old Mark Kerr, a former amateur wrestler and MMA fighter. Emily Blunt appears opposite Dwayne Johnson as Dawn Staples, a recovering alcoholic from Arizona who married Mark Kerr in Las Vegas during their tumultuous relationship. During an interview on Friday's episode of The Graham Norton Show, the 53-year-old shared that the part was "the role of a lifetime" and recalled how he had to "rip himself open" to channel the essence of the character.
"He had an unbelievable life, and to play him is the role of a lifetime," said Dwayne. "I didn’t know the role was for me, or whether I could do it, but I had the opportunity and this little voice in me telling me to do it. For once, I wasn’t chasing the box office, and it has changed my life."
The Rock's co-star, Emily, chimed in on the conversation to gush over working with the actor and share details of her character. "She was heartbreaking and fierce. They had a complicated relationship with brokenness and vulnerability, and I hope the movie is healing for them," she explained. "Dwayne is the antithesis of the Rock persona everyone imagines – he is quiet, shy, gentle, and curious, and has a reservoir of untapped stuff – if you want to be fed by an experience, this role is like the Sunday roast of a performance."
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Dwayne revealed how the role challenged him as a performer. "I wanted to not only challenge myself but to listen to my gut," he shared. "To really rip myself open. And, quite honestly, I was scared. I’m not a big therapy guy. I’ve had some great conversations with therapists, but it’s not the thing I run to. I bottle shit up inside me, like a lot of guys, which I recognise is not the healthiest thing to do."
He continued: "Then I said, 'Wait, I can still do the thing I love, which is acting. But what if there’s something deeper and more meaningful in it for me?'"
Dwayne's appearance on the show comes after he graced the red carpet for the premiere of The Smashing Machine in London alongside his daughter, Simone. The 24-year-old is Dwayne's eldest daughter, whom he welcomed in 2001 with his first wife, Dany Garcia.
The pair were married from 1997 to 2008, before he met and married his second wife, Lauren Hashian, in 2019. He also shares daughters Jasmine and Tiana with her.