Topics: Dwayne Johnson, Hollywood, Celebrity, Film and TV, Entertainment, News
Dwayne Johnson is breaking out from his usual roles and embracing a whole near era of acting.
Known for movies like Jumanji, Moana, Black Adam, the Fast & Furious franchise, Johnson has starred in dozens of films over the course of his career — but there's often a common denominator in the roles that he's played previously, that being that he's practically playing himself.
This was far from the case for The Smashing Machine however, Johnson's latest project which is set to hit cinemas on October 3.
In the highly anticipated movie, Johnson plays former wrestler and MMA veteran Mark Kerr. While Johnson bares some similarities to the UFC legend, he had to wear prosthetics in the film and it makes him practically unrecognizable.
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His transformation went further than the make-up chair though and Johnson was tasked with gaining 30 pounds in a bid for to make his physique resemble that of Kerr's at the request of The Smashing Machine director Benny Safdie.
Chatting to UNILAD about the moment he knew he had to ask Johnson to put more weight on, Safdie said: "I was like, how do I ask Dwayne to get bigger? There's a quality to Mark's muscles that are just like, puffier. Then it was it was a long period of time [that it took to achieve] because that's not easy muscle to put on, you know, that's really difficult to do."
Safdie, who is best known for directing Uncut Gems as well as starring in the likes of Oppenheimer and Licorice Pizza, went on to brand Johnson's transformation into Kerr as 'insane'.
Safdie and Johnson are collaborating again for another movie titled Lizard Music, which is based on the book of the same name by Daniel Pinkwater.
For this role Johnson has once again tasked himself with transforming into his character and has already shed a significant amount of weight for his role as a 70-year-old man.
But why is Johnson losing so much weight in a new look that's left some fans concerned instead of taking on less difficult roles or simply relying on CGI to make him appear different?
The answer is that he wants to 'immerse' himself into his characters and 'disappear'.
Discussing his weight gain and subsequent weight loss, Johnson told UNILAD: "I gained 30 pounds for to play Mark Kerr and then came back down after that to my normal weight of 250 or so.
"I'm in the process of slimming down now where I play a 70-year-old man, so the slimming down is happening."
He continued: "We have time to do it, which is really nice. There's nothing extreme about it.
"I can't wait because, again, it's the opportunity to completely immerse myself and disappear."
As to how his transformations are impacting his acting career, Johnson said that it's allowing him to leave his 'comfort zone' by taking on movies like The Smashing Machine and Lizard Music.
"I felt like I was ready to just break out and rip and tear it all away of any expectation or infrastructure," he shared of this, "and I felt like Benny came along and we came into each other's lives at the same time. It's his time to rip it all away and go be him."
Johnson added: "It's a new side to access and explore, but it's been there the whole time. I just haven't put myself in a position where I could do it. I felt like it converged in the way that it did.
"I had this little voice in behind my rib cage saying, 'Hey, you can do more. There is more.'"
THE SMASHING MACHINE opens in theaters in the US and UK on October 3.
