Dwayne Johnson had to make The Rock “completely disappear” to portray MMA fighter Mark Kerr in his biopic, The Smashing Machine.
Dwayne opened up about his first acting experience where he got to step out of his persona and show his acting prowess.
While appearing on Entertainment Weekly’s The Awardist podcast, he said, “It was all-consuming because that was the goal: to completely disappear. And that was something that I had not been able to do in my entire career.”
“As Emily likes to say, not been allowed to disappear. But also, I didn’t know if I could, and I was so hungry for that kind of challenge to disappear,” he added.
The Jumanji actor wore facial prosthetics such as “eyes, nose, cauliflower ear, scars” as well as gaining 30 pounds and putting on a wig to portray Mark.
Emily chimed in, recalling the first time she saw her friend and costar
“Everyone went very quiet, which I’m sure must have been very unnerving for DJ walking in. Everyone just stared. I almost cried because it was such an immersion, not just physically,” she recalled.
“I consider myself someone who knows DJ pretty well, and he was gone — like, completely gone. I felt this relief was over him. That really moved me, that he looked very peaceful as Mark,” she gushed.
The Samshing Machine was released on October 3, 2025 and has generated Oscar buzz for Dwayne Johnson.
