Is Dwayne Johnson finally taking acting seriously?
I’m not necessarily here to trash Dwayne Johnson’s career (he’s infinitely more successful than I’ll ever be, after all), but you can’t deny that his acting credits are far from illustrious. The wrestler-turned-actor repeatedly appears in blockbuster movies, most of which are little more than money-making vehicles, and he rarely picks a role that will challenge his skill set.
That’s until now. His next film, The Smashing Machine, is being distributed by the highly coveted A24, known for releasing acclaimed movies like Aftersun, Hereditary, Under the Skin, and Moonlight, and he’s even serving as a co-producer. Directed by Benny Safdie, who also helmed Good Time and Uncut Gems with his brother, Josh Safdie, the film marks a welcome change in Johnson’s filmography, which teases a move away from the shamelessly commercial and endlessly uncomplicated movies he has appeared in thus far.
What’s more, Johnson is reportedly keen to team up with A24 again, with Deadline reporting that he will be working with them on a new movie named Breakthrough in the near future. So, why is Johnson seemingly shifting towards more creative projects? The actor is best known for starring in franchises like the Fast and Furious series, the Jumanji reboot, and countless action and adventure films like Baywatch, Jungle Cruise, Moana, Black Adam, and Red One, most of which have been guaranteed box-office hits with little critical appeal.
Johnson is in a league of actors who can consistently top the bill of a star-studded line-up, but one who will never find himself Oscar-nominated – few of the films he has starred in throughout his career have remotely qualified for Academy Award consideration. Perhaps he wants that to change. Just as he moved from wrestling to acting as his main source of income, he seems to be moving towards more challenging acting roles now that he is firmly established in the industry as a profitable star.
It makes sense that he is teaming up with Safdie for The Smashing Machine, considering that he directed Adam Sandler in the gritty crime thriller Uncut Gems, which allowed many people to see another side of the comedic actor. While Sandler had done several other serious movies, most notably Punch Drunk Love by Paul Thomas Anderson, before Uncut Gems, he was still most commonly known for his popular but critically derided comedies. Thus, the Safdie brothers’ movie proved that Sandler was capable of way more than comedy, and it’s likely that the same phenomenon will now happen for Johnson.
The movie will also star Emily Blunt, with whom he starred alongside in Jungle Cruise. The pair are close friends, and considering that Blunt has appeared in her fair share of acclaimed blockbusters, like Oppenheimer, perhaps he is taking a leaf out of her book by attempting to tow the line between creativity and commercial success.
Still, it’s rather early to tell whether Johnson’s career will fully pivot in a new direction just yet – only last year did he appear in Red One, a terribly-received Christmas movie that lost quite a few million at the box office and was widely panned. It’s also yet to be discovered how versatile Johnson really is as an actor. Will he have what it takes to embody the complexity of the MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine? Luckily, with his background in wrestling, he should have a head start, but that isn’t enough to ensure a fantastic performance.
Only time will tell whether Johnson will become an unexpected Oscar contender, but it is certainly reassuring that the actor has finally decided to branch out from mind-numbing big-budget blockbusters for once.
