A source who has seen ‘The Smashing Machine’ tells me that this morning’s trailer is the “only way to hide what a weird-ass movie” this is. A24 has decided to package the trailer as Oscar bait, which this film certainly is not.
Given that this comes to us from the same warped mind that made “The Curse,” don’t expect anything conventional out of this film. I’ve spoken to enough people who’ve seen it and tell me it’s more or less a dark comedy that plays almost like satire. It completely avoids the cliches of the token biopic.
In May 2024, a photo surfaced showing Johnson in character as Mark Kerr, and even from a distance, his dramatic transformation was striking—he looked almost nothing like himself. To embody Kerr, Johnson concealed his well-known tattoos, wore a wig, and applied heavy makeup.
Kerr, whose career hit its peak during the UFC’s intense early 2000s era, struggled with addiction, a central focus of the 2002 documentary “The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr.” The film is said to tackle his deteriorating state.
So, we’re going to be getting two Safdies bros films this year, both solo; Josh has “Marty Supreme” coming out in December. Benny is coming off the brilliance of “The Curse,” a hard-to-describe Showtime series that even had Christopher Nolan saying it was “unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television.”
‘Smashing Machine’ is scheduled for release on October 3 through A24.