Film Festival: Dwayne Johnson cries – “Is I a softie? Yes!”

Dwayne Johnson, Hollywood star and martial arts icon, gave an insight into his vulnerable side. “Is I a softie? Yes!” Said the 53-year-old at the Venice Film Festival. He consisted of pudding internally, joked his fellow actor Emily Blunt (42).

Oscar rumors about new film

At the Film Festival, Johnson can be seen alongside Blunt in the drama “The Smashing Machine”, he plays a martial artist with emotional problems. There are guesswork that their roles Johnson and Blunt could bring in Oscar nominations.

After the premiere, the film team received 15 minutes long applause and standing ovation. Johnson and Blunt were visibly moved and had tears in their eyes.

The film by Benny Safdie tells the story of the Martial arts fighter Mark Kerr (56). The film illuminates both Kerrs ascent as a martial artist and the personal challenges with which it was confronted, including pressure to perform, addiction problems and a toxic relationship.

Johnson: As an actor, I was put in a drawer

Johnson said why he wanted to reinvent himself with this multifaceted, serious role in acting, away from the action films (“Fast & Furious”) and comedies with which he has become known. “When you are in Hollywood, everything revolves around the cash register success – you chase the pick -up results afterwards,” he said.

Cash successes could “be very such – you can push you into a category, in a corner (…). That is what people expect from you. That is what Hollywood awaits you. I understood that. I made these films and I liked them. They were funny. Others were not so good.”

He had “this burning desire, this voice, which said:” What if? (…) What if I could do it? “Often it is more difficult for us – or at least for me – to recognize what you are capable of when you have been put in a drawer.” He asked himself: “Do I live my dream or do I live the dreams of other people?”

Why Johnson was happy to leave the professional wrestling behind

When asked what he liked to leave behind his previous life as a professional athlete when he became an actor, Johnson said: “It was a chance to develop. I loved the wrestling and had a lot of fun performing as a boxer. But it is also very bombastic, very exaggerated and very media -effective.”

Johnson comes from a family of Wrestlern. Asked whether his father was an inspiration for the sometimes tender character he embodied in the film, he said: “I don’t think my father was an inspiration in terms of tenderness. He was not the case. At 13 he was homeless, so his ability was very limited, and that is the man who raised me. Hard love.”