At the 2025 Venice Film Festival, Dwayne Johnson delivered a daring departure from his action-hero persona in The Smashing Machine, portraying real-life MMA legend Mark Kerr. Critics and audiences alike responded with enthusiasm, and the performance has vaulted Johnson into early Oscar conversation.
In a raw and vulnerable turn, Johnson shed his blockbuster veneer, trading muscle-bound bravado for a portrayal that digs into grief, addiction, and identity. Wearing prosthetics that radically altered his appearance, he pushed into unsettling emotional terrain, and the Venice crowd rewarded him with a lengthy ovation that signaled the film’s place as one of the festival’s defining moments.
Johnson has made it clear this role was personal. After years of playing larger-than-life characters, he sought something more than spectacle. The Smashing Machine demanded rawness, reinvention, and the courage to break the patterns audiences had come to expect. Guided by director Benny Safdie and supported by co-star Emily Blunt, Johnson embraced the risk, finding dramatic depth that surprised even longtime admirers.
The film itself is no simple sports biopic. While centered on the world of mixed martial arts, it is less about fighting than it is about fragility, pain, and the personal costs of ambition. In tone and power, it has drawn comparisons to classic tales of struggle like The Wrestler or Raging Bull. For Johnson, the strength that once defined him on screen is now employed in service of vulnerability, showing an actor ready to stretch beyond the limits of his established brand.
What is striking about Johnson’s performance is not the physical transformation—though that is remarkable—but the emotional transparency he brings to the role. He embodies a man battling his demons, and in the process, opens a new chapter in his own career. The ovation in Venice was as much a recognition of Johnson’s leap of faith as it was of the film itself.
The Smashing Machine is set for wide release this fall, and the buzz it generated in Italy is likely to follow it into awards season. Whether or not the Academy ultimately embraces him, Johnson has already achieved something significant: he has proven that his name belongs not just in the credits of blockbusters, but in the conversation around serious, awards-caliber performance.
