Dwayne Johnson is dealing with an injury. On Tuesday, the 52-year-old actor revealed on Instagram that he was injured while filming his upcoming flick, The Smashing Machine.
“Anytime your film is called The Smashing Machine, you’re kind of going to get smashed up,” Johnson quipped in the video, before showing off the injury — a giant bump on his elbow.
“Look at that sucker right there,” he marveled. “Looks like I have a cantaloupe at the bottom of my elbow.”
Johnson admitted that he “got banged up pretty good today in our scenes” and even speculated that there could be “some soft tissue damage,” something he won’t be able to determine until the fluid lessens in his elbow.
“But all good. It is what it is until it isn’t,” he said, before invoking his late father, Rocky Johnson, who died in 2020. “I remember my old man used to say, God rest his soul… ‘A day without pain is like a day without sunshine, boy!'”
Johnson acknowledged that he’s “been banged up” before, but did ask his followers for advice “on some great anti-inflammatories.” While he waits for the medical advice to roll in, Johnson has come up with his own solution — a shot of tequila.
“Even with all the advanced medicine out there that can take care of this, it feels better already,” he joked as he sipped the drink.
In the caption of his post, Johnson added, “Functional medicine, holistic medicine, modern medicine – I’m an advocate for it all when we get banged up. But don’t sleep on the power of the ‘healing Teremana hooch.’ Sunshine & pain. Smashing em up soulman.”
Johnson is starring as MMA and UFC legend Mark Kerr in A24’s The Smashing Machine. Last month, the first pic of Johnson in character was released, showing the actor wearing grappling gloves and a knee sleeve as he sat in the corner of the ring. In the photo, Johnson is practically unrecognizable from the neck up, sporting Kerr’s trademark black mop and lengthy sideburns.
Johnson is starring in the film based on the documentary of the same name. Emily Blunt co-stars in the movie, which is written and directed by Benny Safdie. Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions (which acquired the rights in 2019) will produce alongside Safdie’s Out for the Count banner, Eli Bush and David Koplan.
According to A24, The Smashing Machine “is a drama based on the story of Mark Kerr, the legendary MMA fighter from the no-holds-barred era of the UFC at the peak of his career. He struggles with addiction, winning, love and friendship in the year 2000.”
Blunt is set to portray Kerr’s wife, Dawn Staples, who “struggles to find her place within Mark’s chaotic and contradictory world.”
The Smashing Machine is due out next year.
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