Dwayne Johnson says the trust he shares with Emily Blunt played a major role in helping him bring real vulnerability to his latest character in The Smashing Machine.

The upcoming A24 drama, directed by Benny Safdie, stars Johnson as UFC legend Mark Kerr, with Blunt portraying Kerr’s former wife, Dawn Staples.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Johnson explained that his longtime friendship with Blunt made it possible to dive deep into the emotional weight of the story. 

“If Emily and I weren’t best friends, I don’t know that we could’ve gone to the places we went to,” the 53-year-old actor shared. 

“That closeness created the trust, which then allowed for the vulnerability, which then allowed for [us to] go anywhere.”

The two first worked together in Disney’s 2021 adventure Jungle Cruise and have remained close ever since. That bond, Blunt said, gave Johnson the freedom to fully embody Kerr in a way she described as striking. 

“It seemed to be an effortless immersion, like a full disappearance, spooky. From day one, he was elsewhere,” Blunt told the outlet.

She went on to add that watching Johnson shed his larger-than-life persona for the role was a powerful experience. 

“He has absorbed and borne witness to so much of what Mark has experienced that it was such a beautiful thing to watch this person let go of having to be an image, of having to be The Rock, and crack himself in half for this role.”

For Blunt, this role marks a turning point for her costar, who has long been known for playing invincible heroes on screen. 

“He has been pigeonholed into the image of the big hero who’s got all the answers and he’s going to fix everything and he’s invincible,” she said, adding, “I think until this moment, maybe [Dwayne] thought that was the only lane that people wanted to see him in.”

The Smashing Machine will arrive in theaters on October 3, giving fans the chance to see Johnson in one of his most transformative roles yet.