Christopher Nolan is standing by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
as the actor’s latest film, The Smashing Machine, struggles at the box
office.
On a recent episode of The Director’s Cut podcast,
Nolan joined filmmaker Benny Safdie—who directed The Smashing Machine
and acted in Nolan’s Oppenheimer—to talk about the film. Despite the
movie's underwhelming commercial performance, Nolan praised Johnson’s
performance as “heartbreaking.”
“I think it’s an incredible performance,” Nolan said. “I
don’t think you’ll see a better performance this year or most other years.”
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In The Smashing Machine, Johnson plays real-life MMA
fighter Mark Kerr, chronicling his battles with addiction and his relationship
with his wife, Dawn (played by Emily Blunt), during the peak of his fighting
career. The dramatic role was a major departure from Johnson’s usual
action-hero persona and initially sparked awards season buzz—though audiences
have been slow to embrace the film.
Released on October 3, the movie earned Safdie the Best
Director award at the Venice Film Festival and has a 71% critic score on Rotten
Tomatoes. Still, the film has brought in just $10 million domestically against
a $50 million production budget.
After its opening weekend, Johnson acknowledged the film’s
rocky start in a social media post:
“In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results — but what I
realized you can control is your performance, and your commitment to completely
disappear and go elsewhere. And I will always run to that opportunity.”
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