This message comes from Subaru.

The all-new 2026 Subaru Outback features bold new styling and standard symmetrical all-wheel drive,

plus safety features like standard eyesight driver assist technology.

Discover the all-new outback at Subaru.com slash outback.

This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. Today we continue our retrospective series featuring some of our

favorite interviews from 2025, including this one, which was recorded in October. I guess Dwayne Johnson is a

wrestling star, known in the ring as The Rock. He's won eight WWE championships, and he's a movie

star. His new movie, which he produced and stars in, is a perfect fit in which he gets to use

his muscles, his fighting ability, and to show what a good and nuanced actor he can be, for

anyone who may have doubted it. It's called The Smashing Machine, and it's

based on the story of Mark Kerr, one of the American pioneers of mixed martial arts and of the

UFC, the ultimate fighting championship. The movie is about the high of having tens of thousands of

fans cheering for you, the thrill of winning, and the physical pain after some fights when

muscles are torn or bones are broken and your face is smashed. Emily Blunt plays Kerr's

girlfriend in a very combustible relationship, which strains under the pressures and pain of

Kerr's career. Kerr is portrayed by Johnson as incredibly powerful and vulnerable, the

paradox that I'd imagine characterizes many professional fighters. Johnson plays both extremes very

convincingly. He optioned the movie and brought on Benny Safdi to direct it and Safdi's solo

directing debut without his brother Josh. The movie is based in part

on a documentary about Mark Kerr, and many of the scenes closely follow the documentary, reproducing

fights and statements made by Kerr. Dwayne Johnson's father was a pro wrestler, one of the first

black stars whose ring name was Rocky Johnson. Dwayne Johnson's maternal grandfather was a pro wrestler, one of the first black stars whose ring name was Rocky Johnson.

...