2025 film by Benny Safdie
The Smashing Machine is a 2025 American biographical sports drama film, written and directed by Benny Safdie. It stars Dwayne Johnson as former amateur wrestler and MMA fighter Mark Kerr, alongside Emily Blunt as Kerr's girlfriend, with Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten and Oleksandr Usyk in supporting roles.
The Smashing Machine premiered at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2025, where it won the Silver Lion. It was released in the United States on October 3 by A24, and received generally positive reviews from critics. The film was a box office bomb, grossing $21 million against a $50 million budget. It was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 98th Academy Awards. At the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, Johnson was nominated for Best Actor and Blunt was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.