Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s upcoming film has created great expectations with its trailers, but his lack of ‘real’ acting experience could make him fall short.
“The Smashing Machine” is a biopic about mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr. The film is produced by A24, is directed by Benny Safdie and stars Johnson and Emily Blunt.
The movie looks promising, and critics are on its good side. Even the main star gives us hope of commitment to the role with the body transformation he had to go through. But is this all true, or is it just a marketing stunt and smoke and mirrors?
Johnson has been characterized for playing the unbeatable and super strong action heroes for most of his acting career. This has gotten stale for me as I, and most of the audience at this point, can predict how the movie will turn out since producers always have the same vision for his characters. However, from what the trailers have shown us, ‘The Rock’ seems to have chosen a more grounded and serious role this time around.
He is not the first one to make this career decision before, though. There have been a few cases where actors got stuck in roles in Hollywood and smoothly transitioned into more dramatic or demanding characters in order to get out of that routine.
Johnson himself has admitted in an interview that, although he enjoyed making those blockbusters, he has a “burning desire” to discover more of his acting potential and participate in movies where his character has more to offer the audience than just looking cool and saving the day.
“Sometimes it’s hard to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeon-holed into something,” Johnson said.
Even though ‘The Rock’ is mostly blaming Hollywood producers for putting him in the superhero or ‘action guy’ category, he also has the power, money, influence and connections to stray away from this path and choose more creative projects. Johnson seems to have realized that with portraying Kerr, which can lead him to expand his acting repertoire in the future if he does well.
His plan seems to be going in the right direction as critics have supported this film saying that Johnson could be a contender for an Oscar at the Academy Awards in the Best Actor category.
When the screening at the Venice International Film Festival ended, the crowd gave the film a 15-minute standing ovation. This got Johnson emotional to the point where he teared up while accompanied by the director, co-stars and the real-life Mark Kerr. This can lead us to believe that the casting A24 did was very accurate and was complemented by an emotional story.
We have to stop and ask: how often do these typecast actors have success beyond their established role in the film industry?
Matthew McConaughey used to be the rom-com guy, but started to shift toward projects that showed his artistry in acting. Some of the amazing performances he delivered can be found in “True Detective,” “Interstellar” and “Dallas Buyers Club.” This has led him to many awards and to be regarded as one of the best actors, and one of my favorites, too.
Robert Pattinson has also reinvented his image over the years, going from the handsome vampire in “Twilight” to portraying harsh and psychologically twisted characters in “The Lighthouse” and “Good Time.”
Dave Bautista is an interesting case since he has had a similar career trajectory to Johnson. Both rose to fame as pro wrestlers in WWE but shifted their goals toward acting. Bautista started as a very action-centered actor, breaking out as Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he was ambitious about his acting capabilities. This led to stellar performances in films like the “Dune” saga, his small but impactful role in “Blade Runner 2049” and “Knock at the Cabin.”
Yet, there are also many others that fail. Actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone tried going a different route than their usual Terminators and Rambos, but did not end up making a fit, and eventually, went back to what they do best.
With this being said, The Rock’ can pull it off in this movie, as one of the main topics of the movie is dealing with life as a professional fighter. He can sympathize more with the character than other actors because that lifestyle is somewhat relatable to him, with his full-time career he had in WWE.
The choice to have such a big role in a film with delicate subjects is surprising, coming from the man who has shown a big ego before, and to be adamant to change any part of his lifestyle in order to prepare for the shooting of a project.
Johnson is up against the ropes in this situation, given his lack of experience, but the director and team behind it are also responsible for pushing Pattinson’s career with the aforementioned “Good Time,” so Johnson is in good hands.
If the movie has good results in the box office, this could be a new step toward the film industry with producers and actors trying out different flavors of cinema to experiment with, which would bring us more content to enjoy in the future.
