‘It Had Become About Box Office’ — Dwayne Johnson Says He Was ‘Pigeon-Holed’ as a Blockbuster-Only Actor

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson says he was “pigeon-holed” as an actor who could only appear in blockbusters, which is one of the reasons he wanted to star as UFC fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine.

The Smashing Machine sees Johnson portray the life and career of Mark Kerr, a former wrestler and UFC star who struggled with substance abuse. Emily Blunt plays Kerr’s then-wife, Dawn Staples. Uncut Gems co-director Benny Safdie is the writer and director of the A24 film, which hits theaters October 3, 2025.

Johnson is almost unrecognizable as Kerr. He does not have his tattoos, but he does have hair. You can see how Johnson compares to Kerr below.

While promoting the movie at the Venice Film Festival, the former wrestling star said he wants to “live my dreams now” after “living other people’s dreams.”

Dwayne Johnson kicked off his hugely successful acting career as The Scorpion King in 2001’s The Mummy Returns. His long list of blockbuster film roles include Lucas “Luke” Hobbs in the Fast & Furious franchise, Dr. Xander “Smolder” Bravestone in the Jumaniji reboot movies, and Black Adam in the now defunct DC Extended Universe. Johnson also famously voiced Maui in the Moana animated movies, and is set to play the character in Disney’s upcoming live-action version.

The Smashing Machine, however, marks a significant change for Johnson, who some are saying could be in-line for his first Oscar nomination as a result. As reported by the BBC, the 53-year-old said: “I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity to do this.”

He continued: “I have wanted this for a long time. When you’re in Hollywood, as we all know, it had become about box office and you chase the box office. And the box office in our business is very loud, it can be very [overwhelming].

“It can push you into a corner and category — ‘This is your lane, this is what you do, and this is what people want you to be and this is what Hollywood wants you to be.’

“And I understood that, and I made those movies and I liked them and they were fun, and some were really good and did well, and some not so good!

“But I think what I did realise is I just had this burning desire and this voice that was just saying, ‘What if there’s more, what if I can?’

“Sometimes it’s hard to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeon-holed into something. It’s harder to know, ‘Wait, can I do that? I feel like I can.’ And sometimes it takes people who you love and respect to say ‘you can.’”

Johnson added: “I have been very fortunate to have the career I’ve had over the years and make the films that I’ve made. But there was this voice inside of me that said, ‘What if I could do more?’

“The truth is, I looked around a few years ago and started to think, ‘Am I living my dream or am I living other people’s dreams?’

“And you come to that recognition and you can either fall in line, go, ‘It’s status quo, things are good,’ or you can go, ‘No, I wanna live my dreams now and do what I want to do, and tap into the things I want to tap into and have a place to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past that I’ve shied away from.’”

Photo by Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/WireImage.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.