Dwayne Johnson to star in A24’s new Benny Safdie movie
Dwayne Johnson is set to star in director Benny Safdie’s upcoming A24 film, The Smashing Machine, based on the real life story of former UFC fighter Mark Kerr.
Kerr, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, was previously the subject of the HBO documentary of the same name in 2002. The upcoming film promises to explore Kerr’s fight to the top of the heavyweight division, his obsession with winning, and his addiction to pain killers which led to a non-fatal overdose.
The rights to Kerr’s story were acquired by Johnson and Dany Garcia’s company, Seven Bucks Productions, in 2019. The movie has been in the development stage with Safdie for some time, but now A24 has joined the project as a partner. It will also be co-financed by Safdie’s Out for the Count, Eli Bush and David Koplan.
In a statement, A24’s Noah Sacc said: “Dwayne and Benny are singular talents, and their shared vision for Mark’s inspiring story is electrifying. We are deeply honored to have their trust as collaborators in bringing this incredibly special project to life.”
The Smashing Machine marks Safdie’s first solo endeavour as a director, having previously worked alongside his brother Josh on all of his previous feature-length films.
More recently, Safdie made his small screen directorial debut with the television series The Curse, starring Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone. He also developed and wrote the programme alongside Fielder.
The official synopsis for the A24 series reads: “The Curse is a genre-bending series that explores how an alleged curse disturbs the relationship of a newly married couple as they try to conceive a child while co-starring in their new home-improvement show.”
Currently, there are no further updates on when shooting will begin on The Smashing Machine and the rest of the cast.
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