4 d. ago From cage to screen: The Smashing Machine and Mark Kerr’s second act with The Rock

Mark Kerr’s rise and fall was captured in a cult MMA documentary. Now Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has brought his story to Hollywood with A24’s The Smashing MachineIt started with an affirming nod of heads between two tough guys at a Santa Monica Gold’s Gym in the summer of 1997. One-time Olympic wrestling contender Mark Kerr was training for his first Ultimate Fighting Championship fight, having dominated in a three-fight, one-night tournament in Brazil two months earlier. Dwayne “Rocky Maivia” Johnson, a former NFL prospect sidelined with a knee injury suffered during his second year with the WWE, approached him.“Can I take you to lunch?” Johnson asked Kerr, who obliged him at the Firehouse restaurant in Santa Monica. The conversation inevitably drifted to mixed martial arts, as Johnson peppered the 1992 NCAA champion with pointed questions about the unregulated sport. MMA was gaining popularity in Japan, where multiple promotions hired pro wrestlers for “crossover” fights. Continue...

Politics

4 d. ago Wirtz becomes latest footballer battling to best their objectively weird price tag | Barney Ronay

High-technique midfielder is talented enough for his Liverpool move to work out but most transfers over £80m don’tThe verdict is in on the new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movie, The Smashing Machine, which does look pretty good to be fair. The key takeaway is this. Anyone who might have dismissed The Rock as simply a bald, grizzled, muscled-up fight sport veteran is going to have to eat their words.It turns out The Rock is actually a really good actor. There is talk of a previously unseen ability to inhabit a character, to subsume his entire identity within a role. The role, in this case, of a bald, grizzled, muscled-up fight sport veteran. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago The boxing heavyweights to feature in films as Oleksandr Usyk stars in The Smashing Machine

Usyk will feature alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who plays MMA legend Mark Kerr

Politics

5 d. ago Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson gives schoolboy shock of his life with Pride of Britain award

The Rock is best known for his Hollywood movie career - but he made one boy's year as he turned up in London with his Pride of Britain award

Events

7 d. ago Dwayne Johnson happy to 'not look pregnant' after losing weight to play 75

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has lost 30lbs in the space of a month as he prepares to play a 75-year-old man in a new movie, and he feels 'much better' after shedding the weight

Politics

1 week ago Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson admits he's 'not a big therapy guy' after mental health battle

Following the release of his most vulnerable performance yet, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has admitted he felt similarities between himself and Mark Kerr, who he portrays in The Smashing Machine

Politics

1 week ago The incredible truth behind Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's new role: The real story behind The Smashing Machine

The man behind Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s telling of the rise, fall and redemption of MMA pioneer Mark Kerr .

Politics

1 week ago ‘This is the first time I’ve not thought about the box office’: Dwayne Johnson on wrestling, reinvention and the role that could redefine him

He became cinema’s most bankable strongman. But weary of his own persona, Johnson turned to indie director Benny Safdie – and delivered a bruising new role that rewrites his own rulebookFor much of his career, Dwayne Johnson has been stuck between the Rock and a hard place. In the early years of his transition from body-slamming World Wrestling Entertainment heavy to marquee movie star, he was still being billed under his nom de ring. Even once he retired that moniker, he seemed to be lugging behind him a persona from which he might never be free. There are people-pleasers and then there is this affable brawler-turned-actor, who appears to regard the contentment of the world’s multiplex-goers as his personal responsibility. Whether in vehicles comic (Central Intelligence, Baywatch), family-oriented (Jumanji, Jungle Cruise), four-wheeled (the Fast & Furious series) or disaster-based (San Andreas, Skyscraper), he is a rip-roaring razzle-dazzler, shiny of scalp and tooth, and so co...

Politics

2 w. ago What Jimmy Kimmel said about Charlie Kirk shooting that got his late night show cancelled

ABC has pulled host’s series from TV schedules ‘indefinitely’

Events

2 w. ago The Charlie Kirk comment that got Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show axed

ABC has pulled host’s series from TV schedules ‘indefinitely’

Politics

2 w. ago Kristin Chenoweth defends Charlie Kirk comment after fan backlash

‘I had a human moment,’ actor said

Politics

2 w. ago Kristen Chenoweth defends Charlie Kirk comment after fan backlash

‘I had a human moment,’ actor said

Politics

2 w. ago Amanda Seyfried clarifies controversial Charlie Kirk comment with impassioned plea

‘Mamma Mia!’ star faced backlash after calling right-wing activist ‘hateful’ after his death

Politics

3 w. ago Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s WWE star daughter draws backlash for Charlie Kirk comment

Ava Raine is being told to ‘do better’ by online critics

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Why did daddy die?’ will never get easier for Charlie Kirk’s wife to answer

How do you explain to young children about their dad’s violent death? Charlotte Cripps knows the agony first-hand

Events

3 w. ago Hulk Hogan's daughter Brooke reveals true thoughts on being left out of $5million will

WWE star Hulk Hogan had a strained relationship with his daughter Brooke before his death in July aged 71 as it has been confirmed she isn't named in his huge will

Economics

4 w. ago Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson reveals real reason behind dramatic new physique: ‘Excited to transform again’

The actor says he is preparing for a new role as a ‘whimsical, eccentric 70-something year-old’

Politics