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WWE icon Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and UFC legend Mark Kerr got together this week for a video that might be as fascinating as the movie they are both featured in, The Smashing Machine. In the video, not only do they discuss that eagerly anticipated film, they also re-watched some of the biggest moments from their respective careers.
Included among the many topics of conversation that they discussed were The Rock getting booed at the beginning of his wrestling career as Rocky Maivia, his embarrassing first WWE match at Survivor Series, being part of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin’s final match, and who his all-time favorite in-ring rivals were (Spoiler: John Cena isn’t on that list). Meanwhile, on Mark Kerr’s side, he and The Rock talked about his UFC debut, fighting in Vale Tudo, dealing with depression, getting sober, and what would have happened if Kerr had become a pro wrestler.
In a related interview with Sports Illustrated, Dwayne Johnson revealed that he had to put on “roughly 30 to 32 pounds” to portray Mark Kerr.
“This guy’s body is crazy,” The Rock said about Kerr. “In his prime, he was 270-275 pounds, just a unicorn of a [body] with fast-twitch fibers. [Director Benny Safdie] said, ‘I don’t know how to actually say this to you, but I think you’re going to have to get bigger.’
“That’s when I went into a 12-week training camp with MMA coaches and fighters to help the transformation. And [there was] the vocal transformation. Liz Himmelstein was my vocal coach; she helped Emily [Blunt] on Oppenheimer. So she and I just studied Mark’s speech pattern. Mark is this walking contradiction: a beast of a man, but also very soft-spoken, very caring. It was a lot to transform. But I loved every second.”
Johnson apparently did very well with his transformation. At least according to Mark Kerr and his son.
“So the first time I walked on set, we’re in this arena [in Vancouver] and they’re getting ready to do the introduction for the PRIDE Grand Prix. DJ is the last one to come in the ring. Nobody tells me he’s getting prosthetics. Nobody tells me they’re going to do this cauliflower ear. I’m looking in the ring and DJ’s walking up behind me, and I turn around. All I could do is cuss at him. All I could do is just literally look at him and go, ‘Oh my God, dude. F— you.’ It was this out-of-body experience.
“My son saw [the film] in New York. He’s almost like whispering on the phone, “Dad, he’s got your hand movements, and he’s got your speech pattern, he even walks like you. It was uncanny.”