There are a lot of different ways to define success in the movie game. Some people look at box office. Some people look at reviews. Some people look at nominations and awards. At film festivals, that measure is typically standing ovations, as Dwayne Johnson discovered earlier this year.
The Rock, Emily Blunt and director Benny Safdie took The Smashing Machine to Venice for its premiere, and it was the first time the WWE Champion turned biggest start in Hollywood had ever been invited to such a prestigious festival. Prior to the debut, he started noticing all these other stars who were there and stories floating around about how long the standing ovations were for their movies. As a first timer, he was understandably a little anxious about how The Smashing Machine would be received, and on reflection, he’s not too cool to admit it.
During a sitdown with Deadline, Johnson told the outlet he literally asked Safdie and Blunt what they were supposed to do if no one clapped for the movie. He even jokingly asked if he could start a standing ovation himself, but beneath the humorous comment, there was clearly anxiety. Here’s how he put it…
I’ve not had a movie invited to Venice before so it was a big deal to me. We had a little downtime. I’m looking at my phone and all the movies are starting to come out at Venice. I’m like ‘Oh yeah, that’s cool. This movie came out, and it got this standing ovation. There’s George Clooney and there’s Julia Roberts. Oh this one.’ And then I went, ‘Oh shit, am I gonna get a standing ovation? Am I not?’ I called Benny and Emily and we got together at the hotel that night, and I said, ‘If we don’t get a standing ovation, do I start it myself? Do you start it? Do we three start it? I don’t know what to do.’
Thankfully, any concerns and worries proved to be unnecessary. The film received a double-take worthy fifteen minute standing ovation, which was so loud and so thunderous it got the big man to cry. He later even penned a letter to those in the crowd thanking them for showing so much enthusiasm and appreciation for The Smashing Machine.
In the months since, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for the film. It struggled to find an audience at the box office, likely being too much of a character study for the general public not typically interested in slower, more emotional A24 styles movies, but it did earn a ton of positive reviews and multiple Golden Globe nominations, including one for Johnson's performance which was the first major nom of his career.
I love thinking about The Rock, a man who has made billions of dollars at the box office and headlined wrestling matches in football stadiums, being worried about whether he’s going to get a standing ovation. It’s really endearing, and it shows how much he cared about The Smashing Machine. Given he seems committed to mixing in challenging material and is currently working with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese on an upcoming movie, something tells me it won’t be the last time he’s at a film festival worrying about a standing ovation either.
