The True Story Behind The Smashing Machine, According to the Man Who Lived It

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Ahead of the debut of “The Smashing Machine” at the Venice Film Festival a few days ago, ex-mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr described his feelings as being on a high frequency or vibrational. It’s challenging to distinguish between jet lag and anxiety at this point, but as audiences prepare to witness Dwayne Johnson portraying his life story for the first time, the 56-year-old is trying to maintain composure amidst the surreal circumstances. Maintaining a clear mind has been a priority for him for quite some time now. When we spoke over Zoom a week ago, one of the first things he mentioned was that he was struggling to understand and process what was coming his way. Sharing your personal story with someone else and allowing it to be shared publicly is a significant undertaking, even if much of that story has already been lived out in the public eye.

As a movie critic, I must say that the narrative crafted by Safdie in The Smashing Machine is nothing short of breathtaking. This film takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster, chronicling the tumultuous life of a fighter teetering on the brink of greatness. Battling demons of painkiller addiction and a tumultuous relationship, this story hits hard and leaves you breathless.

Safdie, renowned for his work in the 2019 crime thriller Uncut Gems alongside his brother Josh, masterfully brings Kerr’s story to life with a delicate balance of generosity and vulnerability. In Venice, Safdie openly expresses his admiration for his subject, while Johnson, known for blockbuster action roles, sheds tears at the film’s premiere. This poignant display marks Johnson’s transformation from action star to serious actor, generating Oscar buzz long before the film was even screened.

In simpler terms, during their initial venture, Safdie told Kerr, “Your life experiences allow us all to connect emotionally.

A rocky rise to the top of a burgeoning sport

The book ‘The Smashing Machine’ delves into a significant phase of Kerr’s life spanning 1997 to 2000. However, it was wrestling that marked the beginning of his career, as he honed his skills first at his Toledo, Ohio high school, and later at Syracuse University. Upon graduation, he relocated to Arizona, dedicating himself to training from 1992 to 1996, with a dream of joining the Olympic team. Unfortunately, his aspirations were not realized, and he found himself in need of an income for his training-prior to the UFC, his only options were rough-and-tumble ‘barroom brawlers’.

Initially, I was completely unaware of what awaited me. However, the UFC took notice of me. Inside, there burned a desire to be recognized as a professional fighter, rather than just another street brawler or the bully picked from the schoolyard.

By the early 1990s, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was rapidly gaining recognition among fans. The creation of Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993 provided a recognized platform for this unique American sport characterized by few rules and a blend of various fighting styles. MMA revolutionized combat sports, as it challenged the notion that being exceptional in one martial art alone would make you the best. Instead, mastery of multiple styles and strategies became essential to stay competitive. It was Kerr’s bold approach and definitive wins that led to him earning the moniker used for the movie’s title.

In the late ’90s, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was on the brink of extinction. Due to public outrage over violent matches, cable networks stopped broadcasting UFC fights and several states outlawed these events altogether. This sudden loss of revenue significantly affected the development of many promising careers, including Kerr’s. As a result, American fighters like him turned to international competitions in Japan where audiences appreciated the technical aspects and philosophy of the sport.

Initially, it was unfairly maligned, often misunderstood. People, when they don’t comprehend something, tend to fear it and judge it harshly. This led to labels like ‘barbaric,’ comparing it to cockfighting. However, Senator John McCain, a champion against its ban, later altered his stance on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), attributing this change to the implementation of new safety regulations that made the sport less hazardous.

Despite this, Kerr found himself delving into an era of discovery, as he puts it: “We were seeking to solve these basic conundrums such as, ‘Could a smaller individual overcome a larger one? Could a 10th degree black belt succumb to a wrestler? Might a wrestler be defeated by a jiu-jitsu practitioner?'” he elaborates.

The worth of the sport has significantly grown over the past few decades, with Paramount securing exclusive UFC streaming rights worth $7.7 billion in August. Unfortunately, Kerr’s career didn’t extend long enough to capitalize on this growth. By the time he appeared in Japan’s prestigious Pride Fighting Championship as portrayed in “The Smashing Machine,” he was already addicted to painkillers prescribed by doctors for managing his fight injuries and recovery. He overdosed in 1999 and retired in 2009, five years after an HBO documentary about the same period as Safdie’s film was aired.

Struggles with addiction and an intense relationship

During this period, Kerr frequently relied on pain medication, unaware of its potential to cause a life-threatening physical dependency. His reasoning was straightforward: every fighter understands they have a finite number of bouts before they can no longer compete, and painkillers seemed the sole means to extend their career and thus earnings. His addiction stemmed from a desire to remain active. In his words, “I couldn’t afford to be out for three weeks recuperating. It appeared as an effortless remedy in the short term, but a highly intricate one over the long haul.

Opioid addiction is startlingly frequent in almost all contact and combat sports, but Kerr managed to stay away from the widespread misuse of painkillers within the industry. “Back then, I couldn’t just Google things like I can now. There was a sense of, ‘If I told someone…,’ it felt like a shame that I carried with me. This secretiveness kept me silent. So I simply dealt with it on my own. Whether it was rampant or not, I knew it was simple to obtain.

In the film, “The Smashing Machine,” instead of immersing viewers in the behind-the-scenes areas of Kerr’s fights, it transports us to Phoenix, Arizona, where Kerr and his girlfriend Dawn Staples (portrayed by Emily Blunt) reside amidst what could have been a peaceful suburban life, if not for the barriers of resentment between them. Staples, a recovering alcoholic, along with Kerr, navigated tumultuous paths towards sobriety, resulting in feelings of desertion and animosity. Their separation occurred following Kerr’s 1999 overdose and rehab admission, but they reconciled a few months later. However, one evening, the police were summoned due to an argument intensifying to the point where Staples threatened self-harm with razors and even reached for Kerr’s handgun.

In simpler terms, at that time, my actions were incredibly self-centered. Dawn yearned for my affection, seeking validation. However, my own struggles with fighting, drugs, and alcohol took precedence over her needs. Much of our turbulent relationship can be attributed to me. Now, reflecting back, she was a vulnerable child longing for love, and I was an immature individual who didn’t know how to reciprocate or offer it.

After his crushing and highly publicized loss at Pride in May 2000, Kerr’s professional career struggled to regain its footing. However, he quickly made up with Dawn and they got married, staying together until 2006 and welcoming a son into their family. Kerr continued to fight occasionally after that, but each encounter ended in defeat. “My sense of self has always been deeply entwined with my identity as a fighter,” confesses Kerr. “I was stuck because I couldn’t figure out how to move on from it. It prolonged my addiction. I had a hard time understanding that what I did is not who I am.

Following his last bout, Kerr came to understand that there were still many aspects he needed to address deeply. One significant aspect was sobriety, which played a crucial role in his self-discovery. As it stands, he has been sober for seven years – a milestone he reached after a period of introspection due to its profound nature. He was rescued from a state of mind and body that seemed beyond recovery. His son’s question, “Dad, can you stop drinking?” was the catalyst. Kerr struggled to find his footing across several auto dealerships while navigating through life’s complexities. However, he gradually realized that there is much more to him than just the small piece of himself he presented to the world.

Bringing the story to Hollywood

The initial concept for adapting Kerr’s story onto the screen emerged from Johnson, who shared a timeline in wrestling with Kerr and saw this as an opportunity to take on a more substantial role after spending years in action films as a tough guy. Safdie, upon viewing snippets of Kerr’s story in a 2002 documentary through grainy digital images, instantly connected with it. He expressed his immediate recognition by stating, “As soon as I saw him, I felt like I understood what it was like to be him.” This might have been because Safdie had experienced similar situations in his own family where he had to prioritize others’ well-being over his own feelings. While the documentary emphasized Kerr’s profound suffering, Safdie also noticed his captivating personality shining through. “Mark was at ease in front of the camera,” Safdie said, “and I believe that allowed him to show vulnerability.

In different settings, Kerr presented himself as polite, thoughtful, and articulate, particularly during press conferences and interactions with Pride FC officials, as shown in the HBO documentary and Johnson’s book “The Smashing Machine“. However, when he stepped into the ring to compete, a completely different side emerged. He described this transition as an intense sensation, stating that nothing else in his life offered such intensity, even at distances where he could smell his opponent 30 feet away, with all his human senses operating at their maximum capacity.

In 2019, Brad Slater, Johnson’s agent, reached out to Kerr to obtain the rights to his life story. However, Kerr was unfamiliar with the entertainment industry and didn’t know who held the rights to his own life, didn’t grasp what it meant when a film was given the green light, and even forgot that he had encountered Slater 25 years prior at a Cheesecake Factory in Los Angeles.
Johnson unveiled this project later that fall during a UFC event at Madison Square Garden, but despite having a brief chat with Kerr about the movie, Kerr recalls their initial conversation as somewhat business-like rather than personal.

During the pandemic, “The Smashing Machine” found itself temporarily halted, and as a film enthusiast, I found myself stepping back from focusing on its future. I had Dwayne’s phone number for four long years but didn’t reach out once. However, four years later, just before A24 announced the film with Safdie as the director, an unexpected call came from Johnson himself. The conversation was markedly different compared to our past interactions. It wasn’t about business; it felt heartfelt and genuine, like he was expressing a deep readiness to tackle something completely new and distinct from his previous projects. The sincerity and compassion in his voice were leagues apart from our earlier conversations.

As a die-hard fan and fellow gym rat from back in the day, I’ve had the pleasure of picking the brain of the legendary Steve Kerr more than once. You see, our paths crossed when we were both honing our craft – me in the world of pro-wrestling, him in MMA. In the late ’90s, we shared the iron-pumping grounds of Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach.

Before he became the larger-than-life Rock persona we all know and love, Steve was just a hungry fighter like myself, grinding away on the road for roughly 300 days a year. And despite his success, he admitted that he had to foot the bill for his relentless travel schedule with the earnings from those shows – a humbling reminder of the price of passion.

We dined at Venice’s The Firehouse. He inquired casually, ‘By the way, how were the Japanese towards you? Did they compensate you?’, not realizing that I later understood he was essentially auditioning me to gauge if he could travel to Japan for a potential fight.

Making sure the film got it right

Prior to filming, Kerr provided an unofficial advisory role for Safdie’s screenplay. As Kerr puts it, “Safdie was seeking emotional clarity in certain parts, not factual clarity.

Safdie shared that he would inquire from him if what was happening seemed genuine. He mentioned that Kerr might respond with a yes or no, and in such a case, Safdie would ask, “But why not?” The key point here is that Safdie emphasized he didn’t want to make Kerr feel exploited and mistreated throughout the process. In one of their initial discussions, Safdie disclosed his entire life story to Kerr to explain how demanding and awkward the project could be for him. To put it another way, if Kerr trusted Safdie with telling his narrative, Safdie expected the same trust from Kerr in sharing his own story.

While producing, Kerr recognized it might feel uncomfortable for Johnson to be present during scenes where the actor was reenacting intensely personal and emotional moments from his own life. He found being on set in Vancouver bizarrely surreal. The common jest among everyone was that they frequently discussed him in the third person, and then producer Dave Koplan would say, “He’s right here.” This situation still gives him a strange feeling of being talked about in the third person.

During the critical “fight week,” Kerr actively collaborated with Johnson and the stunt crew to ensure precise details were executed, details even serious MMA enthusiasts would spot. They focused on instructing fundamental MMA fighting techniques, allowing Johnson to adapt these moves to his style rather than restricting him by having him mimic Kerr precisely. For instance, Kerr demonstrated his distinctive double-leg takedown technique.

Safdie had a strong affection for Kerr that extended beyond the filming, ensuring continued care after the cameras stopped rolling. In his own words: “I understand how it feels when a movie ends and actors depart. It can be tough dealing with such a significant drop. He’s been hurt by people in his past, and I didn’t want him to experience that with this project. I wanted him to develop a profound bond with the film.

Without a doubt, he nailed that aspect beautifully. Kerr expresses his sentiments by referring back to some advice given by the producer, Dave Koplan. Essentially, it goes like this: “Sometimes you’re making a film. Sometimes you’re forming a family, and in this case, we formed a family that made a movie.

After wrapping up our conversation, a friend from his group casually mentioned to me that I had been speaking with a true legend – Demetrious Johnson. Now, a quarter-century after reaching the pinnacle of his career, Kerr is grappling with the weight of his legendary status, finding peace in the realization that his journey has come full circle. A week prior, during his UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony, he expressed this newfound sense of completion: “DJ asked me backstage, ‘How do you feel, brother? You’re home.’ I replied, ‘It’s not a feeling. It’s a sensation.’

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2025-09-05 20:06