Overview

• Dwayne Johnson said he insisted on taking a real strike during a key fight scene, describing that he "got [his] bell rung" as director Benny Safdie kept the camera rolling to preserve authenticity.
• The role required an extensive transformation that included three to four hours of daily prosthetics work by Kazu Hiro, voice coaching to match Mark Kerr’s tone, and a reported 60-pound weight loss.
• Following a Venice world premiere that drew an estimated 15-minute standing ovation, the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score has hovered in the mid‑70s to around 80% in early tallies.
• UFC CEO Dana White praised a private cut and said a scene with Johnson and Emily Blunt merited Oscar consideration, feeding awards-season chatter ahead of release.
• Written and directed by Benny Safdie for A24, the biopic stars Johnson as MMA champion Mark Kerr with Emily Blunt as Dawn Staples, features MMA figures like Bas Rutten, Ryan Bader, and Oleksandr Usyk, and opens in U.S. theaters on October 3; some forecasts now project up to a $20 million domestic debut.