Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has won praise for his performance as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week.
The former wrestler admits he enjoyed the chance to show off his dramatic range after feeling “pigeonholed” with multiple roles in big-budget action and comedy films.
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival where his latest movie premiered, he said: “I just had this burning desire and this voice that was saying: ‘Well, again, what if?’.”
“But what if there is more and what if I can? And a lot of times it’s harder for us to, or at least for me, to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeonholed into something.”
It becomes all about the box office when you’re in Hollywood, Johnson said.
“And the box office in our business that we know is very loud and it can be very resounding, and it could push you into a category and into a corner. And ‘this is your lane’ and ‘this is what you do’ and ‘this is what people want you to be’ and ‘this is what Hollywood wants you to be’.”
Of his films, he added: “I liked them, and they were fun, and some were really good and did well, and some not so good.”
The actor does not feel he has anything left to prove in Hollywood and is relishing the chance to satisfy his own career desires.
“I don’t think it’s anything to prove to Hollywood as much as it’s just for me now,” the star said.
“And the truth is, I looked around a few years ago, and I started to think, ‘Am I living my dream or am I living other people’s dreams?’
“You could either fall in line and go, ‘Well, it’s status quo. Things are good. I don’t want to rock the boat.’ Or go, ‘No, I I want to live my dreams now and do what I want to do and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into.’
“I have a place finally to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past that I’ve shied away from, been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity to do this.”
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