This message comes from the 10% Happier Podcast.

Dan Harris talks to scientists, meditation gurus, and even the Beastie Boys,

to explore ways to stress less, focus more, and master happiness.

It's self-help for smart people.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

This is fresh air.

I'm Terry Gross.

My guest, 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.

Curris 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

...