The Smashing Machine star Emily Blunt talks Dwayne Johnson's transformation in the hard-hitting MMA biopic: "I'd been waiting for my friend to get the chance to disappear"

The Smashing Machine star Emily Blunt says the sports biopic about MMA fighter Mark Kerr allowed Dwayne Johnson to "disappear" into a role following a period of growing "restlessness" with blockbuster movies.

Johnson and Blunt reunite in the Benny Safdie-directed, A24-produced drama about UFC pioneer Kerr and his often tumultuous relationship with his wife, Dawn Staples. The movie is a very different beast from their last collaboration on 2021 Disney adventure movie, Jungle Cruise.

"This really was a sort of leap into the unknown, for he and I," Blunt tells GamesRadar+. "We've been trying to find something to do together again since Jungle Cruise, and I was hoping it could be something that would be very different, but this was the polarized end of what we had done together before."

A sports movie in the mold of Raging Bull, or a reverse-Rocky, The Smashing Machine explores what happens when a lauded fighter faces their first loss, digging into the psychological ramifications of such a blow, and the deleterious effect on personal relationships. Johnson, for his part, has been talked up as a potential Best Actor contender for his work in the film, which received a whopping 15-minute standing ovation following its Venice Film Festival premiere last month.

As the only person with a front-row view of Johnson's transformation into Kerr (Johnson wears prosthetics that render him near-unrecognizable), Blunt is full of praise for Johnson's performance and pivot away from larger-than-life heroes in blockbuster tentpoles.

"More than anything, I'd been waiting for my friend to get the chance to disappear," Blunt says. "He's a man who can never disappear, and I could sense this restlessness in him, growing, this desire to do more, challenge more, and explore more within himself. I just knew there was this deep well of ability and of curiosity that hadn't been fed. And I was so excited that this movie was like the Sunday roast of being fed."

It's not the first time Johnson has expressed frustration about being "pigeon-holed" as a blockbuster star – the subject generated headlines following comments made by the actor during the film's Venice press conference. Whether or not the Black Adam star will be rewarded with an Oscar nomination for his turn toward more serious-minded fare, only time will tell.

The Smashing Machine opens in theaters on October 3. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies heading your way for the rest of the year.