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Benny Safdie scored the win for Best Director for The Smashing Machine, which stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, at the 2025 Venice Film Festival in Italy.
The film had its world premiere at the festival, where it received a 15 minute-plus standing ovation, which brought Johnson to tears.
The film is an adaptation of the 2002 documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Mark Kerr.
Safdie, who co-directed and co-wrote the great Adam Sandler crime thriller Uncut Gems, wrote the screenplay as well.
Mark Kerr, now 57, won two UFC Heavyweight Tournaments, competed in the PRIDE Fighting Championship, was a NCAA Division I champion and a World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner over the course of his MMA career. The 2002 documentary was acclaimed at the time of its release:
Johnson announced he would be portraying Kerr back in November 2019, but the project was obviously delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rock's production company Seven Bucks is producing. Emily Blunt, who worked with The Rock on Disney's Jungle Cruise portrays Kerr's wife, Dawn Staples. The film finished production in summer 2024.
There is great Oscar buzz for the film already.
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