The Rock On Portraying Mark Kerr: It’s Hard To Know What You’re Capable Of When You’ve Been Pigeonholed

The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) transcended the world of wrestling over two decades ago when he entered Hollywood and became one of the biggest box office draws.

Though his films raked in money, Johnson was often criticized for playing a similar badass character in many of his films.

In “The Smashing Machine,” he stepped outside of his comfort zone to portray MMA legend Mark Kerr.

“I have, for a long time, wanted this,” Johnson said as a press conference (via Variety). “The three of us have talked for a very long time about, when you’re in Hollywood — as we all know, it had become about box office. And you chase the box office, and the box office can be very loud and it can become very resounding and it can push you into a category and into a corner. This is your lane and this is what you do and this is what Hollywood wants you to do.

“I just had this burning desire and voice that was saying, ‘What if there is more and what if I can?’ A lot of times, it’s harder for us — or at least for me — to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeonholed into something. Sometimes it takes people that who you love and respect, like Emily and Benny, to say that you can.”

Benny Safdie is the director of the film while Emily Blunt is his co-star.

“I looked around a few years ago and I started to think, you know, am I living my dream or am I living other people’s dreams? You come to that recognition and I think you can either fall in line — ‘Well, it’s status quo, things are good, I don’t want to rock the boat’ — or go, I want to live my dreams now and do what I wanna do and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into, and have a place finally to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past that I’ve shied away from. I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity.”

“The Smashing Machine” opens in theaters on October 3.