Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hasn’t exactly been known to be a chameleon through his movie career — even his Moana character looks like him, down to some of his famous tattoos — but a new peek at his latest project changes that.
Johnson has reteamed with his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt for The Smashing Machine, a biopic of mixed martial arts trailblazer Mark Kerr that was directed by Uncut Gems veteran, and Blunt’s Oppenheimer co-star, Benny Safdie.
In the photo posted by independent studio A24 to commemorate the first day of shooting, Johnson is shown as Kerr, sitting in the corner of an MMA ring mid-fight, as Blunt looks up at him from outside the ring; she plays Kerr’s wife, Dawn Staples.
Johnson is sporting a sweaty mop of black hair on his famously bald head, his tats have been covered and, most strikingly, he’s sporting facial prosthetics emulating Kerr’s more blunt features.
According to IMDB, the artists behind the look were Glen P. Griffin, who also worked on Oppenheimer, and Kazu Hiro, who helped transform Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill for the actor’s Oscar-winning performance in 2017’s The Darkest Hour.
The Rock forwarded the photo to his socials.
Hours before, he posted a video of some of his training in mixed martial arts, including a throw of an opponent and a headlock submission.
“Working hard and feeling good about my progress so far, but far from satisfied,” he captioned the video.
“Approaching this as a total student of the game, absorbing and learning as much as I can, day by day. It’s my absolute honor to pay respect and homage to @UFC … Mark Kerr and all the founding fathers of MMA,” Johnson wrote.
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