Dwayne The Rock Johnson shocks with slimmed-down…
From The Rock to The Pebble.
Dwayne Johnson shocked followers with his slimmed-down physique at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend.
The wrestler-turned-actor, 53, reworked his physique to play MMA fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie’s movie “The Smashing Machine,” which is premiering in Venice Monday evening.
Dwayne Johnson arrive at Venice Airport on Aug. 30. AbacaPress / SplashNews.com
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt arrive in Italy for the Venice Film Festival on Aug. 30. BACKGRID
Johnson confirmed off his weight and muscle loss as he attended the Miu Miu Women’s Tales event on Saturday evening in a button-up blue shirt and black pants. He was joined by his co-star, Emily Blunt.
Then on Monday, Johnson wore a short-sleeved blue shirt that he tucked into his white pants at the movie’s photocall.
Dwayne Johnson at Miu Miu Women’s Tales event at the Venice Film Festival. Getty Images for Miu Miu
Dwayne Johnson arrives at the 82nd Venice Film Festival on Sept. 1. Manuele Mangiarotti/ipa-agency.internet/Shutterstock
Dwayne Johnson at “The Smashing Machine” photocall in Venice. Getty Images
Johnson’s skinny physique went viral on X where followers jokingly called him “The Pebble.”
“He’s so lean,” one fan wrote.
“Damn, he’s half of what he was!” another person said.
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt at “The Smashing Machine” photocall on Sept. 1. Getty Images
“Wow nice transformation,” a different individual wrote.
In “The Smashing Machine,” Johnson performs UFC and MMA legend Kerr, who battled prescription drug habit. Blunt, 42, performs Kerr’s now-ex-wife, Dawn Staples.
At the movie’s press convention Monday afternoon, Johnson explained that he’s been ready for a position this rewarding for a long time.
Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine.” Courtesy Everett Collection
“When you’re in Hollywood — as we all know, it had become about box office. And you chase the box office, and the box office can be very loud and it can become very resounding and it can push you into a category and into a corner,” he explained. “This is your lane and this is what you do and this is what Hollywood wants you to do.”
Dwayne Johnson arrives at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. Getty Images
Dwayne Johnson at CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas. Getty Images for CinemaCon
“I just had this burning desire and voice that was saying, ‘What if there is more and what if I can?’ A lot of times, it’s harder for us — or at least for me — to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeonholed into something,” the “Jumanji” star continued. “Sometimes it takes people that who you love and respect, like Emily and Benny, to say that you can.”
Dwayne Johnson attends the 2024 Academy Awards. WireImage
Johnson went on: “I looked around a few years ago and I started to think, you know, am I living my dream or am I living other people’s dreams? You come to that recognition and I think you can either fall in line — ‘Well, it’s status quo, things are good, I don’t want to rock the boat’ — or go, I want to live my dreams now and do what I wanna do and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into and have a place finally to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past that I’ve shied away from.”
Dwayne Johnson during RAW at Intuit Dome on January 6, 2025. WWE via Getty Images
“I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity,” he added.
Johnson also said that the movie based on Kerr’s life “is not even really about fighting — it’s a love story.”
“The Smashing Machine” can be launched in theaters Oct. 3.
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