It may turn out that Dwayne Johnson’s Oscar gamble, the Mark Kerr biopic The Smashing Machine, will bear fruit for him. That said, it won’t be the box office that helps because the anticipated drama only earned $6M over the weekend. To be fair, A24 doesn’t have a track record for breaking the bank so it was perhaps unfair to expect it here. But it’s still an all-time low for Johnson and that has to sting a little bit.
To his credit, Johnson gave a gracious response on Instagram while praising The Smashing Machine director Benny Safdie.
“In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results, but what I realized you can control is your performance and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere. And I will always run to that opportunity. It was my honor to transform in this role for my director, Benny Safdie. Thank you, brother, for believing in me. Truth is, this film has changed my life. With deep gratitude, respect, and radical empathy.”
After I saw the film at TIFF and gave it a positive review, I noted that the “knives were coming out” for Johnson. It seemed like some were all too eager to see him and this movie fail, and they undoubtedly are pretty happy right now. To Johnson’s credit, he seems to looking past the negativity and appreciating the opportunity he was given to do something different in his career. He might be the one smiling in the end, so let’s just wait and see.
