The Smashing Machine: How closely does Dwayne Johnson’s movie mirror the real-life journey of Mark Kerr?

The Smashing Machine was released on October 3, 2025, by A24. Prior to that, it bagged the Silver Lion award at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. Benny Safdie has written and directed this biographical drama flick, which is based on the life of ex-MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Here's the official synopsis as mentioned in Letterboxd:

The story of legendary mixed martial arts and UFC fighter Mark Kerr.

WWE wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, portrays Kerr in this film. People might wonder how closely this film resembles the reality of Kerr's life. Let's find out.

The Smashing Machine: How close is it to the real life of Mark Kerr

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The Smashing Machine is inspired by John Hyams' 2002 documentary film The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr. This Dwayne Johnson starrer chronicles roughly four professional years of Kerr. These years, between 1997 and 2000, were when Kerr was in his sporting prime.

While Benny Safdie has said he sticks true to most of the facts, he has taken some creative liberties by

“putting people in rooms they weren't, making things up, and trying to glean things about what happened.”

Kerr spoke to USA Today about how the film parallels the reality of fighters being friends outside the ring. In one scene, Kerr gifts his wife, Dawn Staples (played by Emily Blunt), a Japanese bowl. Later on, during a fight, she smashes it. In real life, it was actually a silk robe as Safdie intended to create an explosive moment. Kerr said,

“For Dawn to hurt me, it was like, ‘Yeah, OK. You got this for me and (now) it's ripped up.’ ”

In another scene, Dawn pulls out a shotgun and points it at Kerr during a heated argument. Kerr reveals that it is how things happened in real life.

“She was a little girl that just needed to be loved and I had no clue how to love her. Like, no clue at all. So she was just crying and asking for it. Now we tried this way and that way, and it just was not the way that she needed to be loved or accepted.”

The Smashing Machine has tweaked both grim and lighter moments from Kerr's life. In a Dazed interview, Safdie spoke about how he was inspired to make the film after watching the documentary.

“I wanted to respect the reality of what happened. I love the documentary. But I can change things. If a scene takes place in a small room, I can make it more filmic, and still keep the feeling. We put things that happened to me in the past on the table, we look at them, and then we put them back in my head. In that process of reimagining things, you learn about yourself.”

Safdie and Johnson have co-produced the film with Eli Bush, David Koplan, Hiram Garcia, and Dany Garcia.