Dwayne Johnson defies expectations with The Smashing Machine
The Treatment
KCRW
4.6 • 656 Ratings
🗓️ 29 November 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on The Treatment, Elvis speaks with actor, producer and all-around Hollywood powerhouse Dwayne Johnson aka "The Rock.” Johnson stars in the new Benny Safdie film The Smashing Machine alongside Emily Blunt where he portrays real life MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Johnson talks about going deep for the role, performing the role of "The Rock," and what he wants to tackle next in his career (hint: everything!).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From KCRW Santa Monica and KCRW.com, it's The Treatment. |
| 0:12.8 | I'm Elvis Mitchell. It's the treatment. My guest, who is a little bit too impatient to be on the radio. |
| 0:18.5 | In the 21st century, my guest, Dwayne Johnson, has been in over 50 films, and he's played in movies where there have been real-life characters a number of times, in Gridiron Gang, in Pain and Gain, in, well, the Legion of Super Pets for that answer to the way. But there's a movie he was in, though he played a real-life figure called Snitch. was the first time I saw him do this thing where he wasn't being complicit with the audience. |
| 0:40.9 | First of all, do I think... But there's a movie he was in, though he played a real-life figure called Snitch. It was the first time I saw him do this thing where he wasn't being complicit with the audience. |
| 0:41.0 | First of all, Duane, thanks much for being here. |
| 0:42.8 | Thank you. |
| 0:43.3 | Good thing. |
| 0:43.5 | Good to be here. |
| 0:44.1 | You're going to be here. |
| 0:44.2 | Your new film, The Smashing Machine. |
| 0:45.8 | But in Snitch, that wasn't the first times I saw you really connect with a character and the guy who didn't know what to do with his body. |
| 0:52.5 | That's right. |
| 0:54.4 | That's right. |
| 0:55.2 | Yeah, absolutely. |
| 0:56.0 | You know, and Snitch was one of those movies that, for me at that time, it was something that I was |
| 0:56.0 | looking for then, which was the challenge and wanting to do more and wanting to challenge |
| 1:01.1 | myself in ways that I hadn't been challenged before. And that story, true story, wildly true story, |
| 1:06.7 | and had a chance to work with some great actors on that, John Bernthal, for example, one of them |
| 1:14.9 | got to know John very well, we became brothers after that. But, you know, I always believe work |
| 1:19.6 | begets work, and especially when you're searching for something. And from there, then I think, shortly thereafter, I always believe work begets work, and especially when you're searching for something. |
| 1:24.6 | And from there, then I think shortly thereafter, I think I did Pain and Game with Michael Bay. |
| 1:27.7 | And then, you know, really fast forward to Smash a Machine, which had a whole other, I think, intention and alchemy in my life that I didn't know, |
... |
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