The Rock has admitted that he suffered a serious injury while portraying MMA fighter Mark Kerr for The Smashing Machine, which is set to be released worldwide later in the week.
In what looks set to be Rock’s greatest performance of his movie career, and potentially the role that will have him seen as a more serious actor by fans, the former WWE Champion plays Kerr in the biopic, detailing the highs and lows of the former UFC fighter’s career.
With fighting being a major part of the movie, one of the most pivotal scenes takes place near the end of the picture, which adapts the PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals fight between Kerr and Kazuyuki Fujita for the big screen. Looking to keep things as realistic as possible, Rock, real name Dwayne Johnson, did take multiple shots to recreate the fight that left him with a concussion.
While speaking with Jimmy Fallon to promote the upcoming movie, Rock stated that he had to go all the way with the reality, and noted that you can tell in the finished product that he was knocked loopy as a result:
“I said to our fighter, you have to hit me. He is a Japanese fighter, very respectful, he refused to hit me. I said, please, we have one shot, you have to hit me. […] You’ll see in the movie, he’s [Fujita] rocking me over and over again. It was wild. So after the fight, you see me and I look like I’m loopy, that’s because I had a concussion. But it’s the thing you got to do. If you’re going to make a MMA movie, you have to go all the way. That’s what we did with this. You have to”
The Rock And The Smashing Machine A Big Hit With Critics
Although the general public will have to wait a little longer to see The Rock’s latest movie, The Smashing Machine previously premiered at multiple film festivals, giving critics a chance to see the biopic. Along with the movie receiving a 15 minute standing ovation, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes had the movie graded very highly upon first viewings. At the time of writing, the movie currently sits at 79%.
The Smashing Machine is set to be released in theatres worldwide on Friday, October 3.
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