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A super-jacked but nearly unrecognizable Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has taken to social media to announce production has finally begun on The Smashing Machine, the saga of early MMA/UFC legend Mark Kerr’s ascent to glory and fall from grace.
Johnson posted the first photo from set in Vancouver Tuesday to his nearly 400 million Instagram followers.
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First impressions: There’s something off about The Rock’s looks, a combination of some amazing prosthetics and … a full head of hair?!
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The start of work on set is hardly the beginning of Johnson’s long journey to bring Kerr’s story to a wider audience.
He picked up the rights to Kerr’s story more than five years ago, and it’s taken until this week to start work with director Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems) and production company A24.
Kerr’s life in the rough-and-tumble early days of MMA in the late ’80s and early ’90s was the subject of a highly regarded documentary of the same title in 2002. But its brutal honesty and the fact it was released during the relative infancy of the UFC in the popular imagination means it hasn’t been widely seen.
Johnson is determined to be faithful to the story, training hard in anticipation of filming and even working with Kerr himself on his fight techniques.
Johnson said earlier on social media that Kerr, despite decades of struggles, still has “scary speed and power,” and thanked Kerr for “the brotherhood we share.”
New York and L.A.-based A24 put out a somewhat unusual casting call for the movie in March, seeking not just fighters but real-life doctors and nurses and people who can speak Ukrainian and Japanese.
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