Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is well-known for his pro wrestling career, as well as being the smoldering star of some of the best action movies, but his upcoming A24 release is a whole other sort of beast that nearly wasn't made. Before The Smashing Machine finally punched through delays and doubt, director Benny Safdie tried a very old-school move to keep the dream alive by mailing the former WWE star a piece of Mark Kerr history. But sadly, the package never arrived.
While promoting their 2025 movie schedule release, the pair spoke with Entertainment Weekly in a joint interview, reealing Safdie had tracked down a vintage ’90s yellow Nautica sweater Kerr actually wore—miraculously in Johnson’s size—and mailed it with a handwritten note about their long-gestating biopic. The Black Adam star’s reaction was equal parts bemused and crushed:
