Dwayne Johnson to play Mark Kerr in A24’s ‘The Smashing Machine’ movie

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has signed to play former UFC fighter Mark Kerr in a film next year.

‘The Smashing Machine’ was one of MMA’s early dominant stars. First debuting in 1997, Mark Kerr quickly found success inside the cage. The following year, he signed with the UFC, to compete in a one-night heavyweight tournament. Unsurprisingly, the former collegiate wrestler dominated.

Mark Kerr won the UFC 14 heavyweight tournament and won another one-night tournament later in the year. That success led to him signing with PRIDE in 1998, maintaining that dominance. However, he suffered his first loss to Kazuyuki Fujita in 2000, the start of his downfall. Around this time, he began to badly suffer from addiction and other health issues.

During his decline, Mark Kerr was filmed for the HBO documentary ‘The Smashing Machine’. The documentary was raw and real but was a big hit. It appeared that former WWE superstar Dwayne Johnson was a big fan of it as well, announcing his plans to turn it into a movie in 2019.

He made the announcement at UFC 244 in New York, in a big press conference. However, progress on Dwayne Johnson’s Mark Kerr movie has been slow, to put it lightly. In fact, very little has been heard about the film since the pro wrestling star’s announcement in 2019. Based on the lack of progress, many figured that the project was likely stuck in development hell.

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Image via: @projectrock on Instagram

Well, that was until now. Earlier today, A24 announced plans to produce the biopic, with Dwayne Johnson playing Mark Kerr. Furthermore, the film will be directed by Benny Safdie. The actor and director famously worked on 2017’s Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson, as well as 2019’s Uncut Gems featuring Adam Sandler.

Those films were directed by Safdie, as well as his brother Josh. However, this biopic based on Mark Kerr’s life will be the first time that he’s directed a movie fully on his own. Although, he’s getting to work with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the form of Dwayne Johnson, which likely makes that a bit easier.

The film itself will likely follow the documentary very closely. A fraction of the press release put out earlier today read: ‘The Smashing Machine’ is a drama based on the story of Mark Kerr, the legendary MMA fighter from the no-holds-barred era of the UFC at the peak of his career. He struggles with addiction, winning, love, and friendship in the year 2000.”

As of now, there are no other details readily available about the upcoming film. However, based on the released information thus far, one can expect a fantastic supporting cast. While the movie will likely start production sometime next year, there is no timetable for the film’s release as of now.

What do you make of this news? Do you think Dwayne Johnson is a good casting pick for UFC legend Mark Kerr? Will you watch the film when it is released?