Dwayne Johnson Discusses How He Gained Over 30 Pounds for 'The Smashing Machine'

Johnson portrays former MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the movie.

Dwayne Johnson sat down with Sports Illustrated recently to talk about portraying Mark Kerr in his movie "The Smashing Machine." / Clay Patrick McBride/Sports Illustrated

When you think of Dwayne Johnson being in the right shape to play MMA fighter Mark Kerr, you probably don't envision him having to gain weight. The professional wrestler turned actor has the nickname "The Rock" for a reason.

But, for his upcoming movie The Smashing Machine in which Johnson portrays Kerr in his prime MMA days, he was told he had to gain weight to make his body look accurate. He underwent a 12-week training camp with MMA coaches and fighters in order to reach the ideal body image to portray Kerr.

"I felt like I had to do this. And this was the great challenge of my life, of my career," Johnson said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. "... This was a very physical transformation. This guy's body is crazy. In his prime, he was 270-275 pounds, just a unicorn of a [body] with fast-twitch fibers. Benny said 'I don't know how to actually say this to you, but I think you're going to have to get bigger.'"

Johnson then shared the exact amount of weight he had to lose for this role.

"Roughly 30 to 32 pounds, which is a lot of weight. But also I had to be able to move with that weight."

It definitely doesn't sound like an easy task for anyone to accomplish what Johnson did in order to play this role. But, if anyone could do it, it was The Rock. The Smashing Machine hits theaters on Friday, Oct. 3.

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