The Rock breaks down in tears after The Smashing Machine’s Venice premiere.
The Rock stars in A24’s upcoming Mark Kerr biopic, The Smashing Machine, with his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt. The film will release on October 3, 2025. On Monday night, it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where The Final Boss, who appeared to sport a leaner look, received a 15-minute standing ovation that left him in tears.
Variety reported that the crowd on the Lido gave one of the longest ovations of this year’s festival. Director Benny Safdie hugged The Rock and Emily Blunt during the moment, and the three got emotional together as the applause went on.
During the premiere, a fan shouted The Rock’s famous catchphrase, “If ya smell what The Rock is cooking,” which made him and his co-star burst into laughter.
The Rock says The Smashing Machine helped him stop chasing box office success
At the press conference at the Venice Competition film, The Rock spoke about his Hollywood journey. He said that in Hollywood, success often becomes all about box office numbers. Chasing that success can be loud and overwhelming, and it can trap actors in one category.
“The three of us have talked about, when you’re in Hollywood, it had become about box office,” said Johnson. “And you chase the box office, and the box office can be very loud and it can become very resounding and it can push you into a category and into a corner. This is your lane and this is what you do and this is what Hollywood wants you to do.”
The Rock admitted he felt a strong desire to ask himself, “I just had this burning desire and voice that was saying, ‘What if there is more and what if I can? A lot of times, it’s harder for us or at least for me to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeonholed into something. Sometimes it takes people that who you love and respect, like Emily and Benny, to say that you can.”
He added whether he was himself if he was living his own dream or just following others’ expectations. “I started to think, am I living my dream or am I living other people’s dreams? You come to that recognition and you can either fall in line. ‘Well, it’s status quo, things are good, I don’t want to rock the boat’ or go. I want to live my dreams now and do what I want to do and have a place finally to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past that I’ve shied away from.”
“I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity.” He also added his choice to try something new doesn’t dismiss his blockbuster career. “I made those movies, and I liked them. Some were really good and did well. And some not so much.”
Read More: The Rock Reveals Why Movie Roles Like The Smashing Machine Scared Him
