The Rock stars in “The Smashing Machine” as former MMA fighter Mark Kerr.
Kerr was a pioneer of ground and pound in MMA, but battled his own demons outside of the ring and cage.
The Rock has drawn much praise from fans and critics for his portrayal of Kerr in the film, including doing the fight scenes himself.
“We had to tell our scene partner, who is a fighter, ‘Hey brother, you’re pulling your punches. You have to lay it in. You have to hit me.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Benny is not cutting away. It’s the end of the movie. This really happened to Mark. You have to lay it in. Don’t hit me here, you’ll break my jaw. Don’t hit me in my temple, you’ll kill me, but if you hit me on my cheekbone.’ ‘No, no, no, I’m not going to do that.’ I said, ‘I need you to hit me.’ ‘I respect you. I’m not going to do that.’ Benny came over and said, ‘You have to hit him. I’m not cutting away.’ I grabbed him and said, ‘Brother, please. It’s you and I. It’s okay,'” Rock recalled on a media roundtable.
Director Benny Safdie said that Bas Rutten yelled out, “Just hit him!”
Rock concluded, “He hit me so hard, and that’s what you see in the movie. Not only does he hit me, but I realized, watching back, he’s coming down (with a hammerfist).”
“The Smashing Machine” is in theaters on October 3.
Fans can find out how The Rock feels about the Oscar buzz he’s getting for the film here.
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