UFC veteran Mark Kerr’s biopic, “The Smashing Machine,” was clearly a passion project for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Unfortunately for Johnson, the film didn’t recoup its budget and flopped on the box office, despite having favorable reviews and Golden Globe Award nominations for each Johnson and his costar, Emily Blunt.
Nevertheless, while the biopic fell in need of the mark, there was a special accolade he aimed for with “The Smashing Machine” that personally dissatisfied him.
“It will have been incredible to get nominated for an Oscar,” Johnson told Esquire. “I noticed in a short time that it is a rare thing to succeed in this pinnacle where you are even having these conversations,” he expressed.
“I wish it happened. However it didn’t,” he continued. “But in no uncertain terms did I ever think, ‘Oh, that does not matter.’ I at all times thought it mattered. And it has lit a fireplace in my spine, which is, ‘Let’s return to work.'”
Unlike Johnson’s other movies up to now, “The Smashing Machine” was a test of his dramatic abilities. While chatting with IMDb, he admitted that he had originally hesitated to become involved with the project, but it surely ultimately became dear to him as production went on. The film ended up receiving an Academy Award nomination for its makeup team.
Based on the comments from each interviews, Johnson will likely aim to get one other Oscar-worthy project off the bottom at some stage. The TKO board member is in early production of a Hawaiian crime drama helmed by Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese.