Mark Kerr discusses his relationship with Benny Safdie.
Safdie is the director, writer, producer, and editor of the upcoming Mark Kerr biopic, ‘The Smashing Machine’. For those that are out of the loop, The Rock leads the film with his portrayal of Mark Kerr. The supporting cast includes names like Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, and Lyndsey Gavin.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet for a new interview, Mark Kerr touched on his relationship with Benny Safdie, recalling a moment where Safdie told him that he’s not a prop for the film.
“Oh my gosh, that’s another one. Benny [Safdie – director] and I talked about it, making this film for everyone involved came to them at the time that they needed it to come to them. When Benny and I touched base for the first time in 20 January 2024, the running joke was he got on the phone, he goes, ‘Hi, my name’s Benny Safdie, and I’m gonna make…’ It was like this scripted thing. And then he just stopped, and you can hear him go, ‘All right, listen, here’s what’s really going on.’ And we have this heart-to-heart. We’re on the phone for like, an hour and a half. He goes, ‘Hey, I need to be completely emotionally transparent with you, like his conversations with me if I’m going to make a movie about me, right? So that was the correlation, and it was beautiful. He said to me, ‘Hey, you’re permanent, you’re not a prop, I’ll be friends with you for the rest of my life.’ Just this amazing connection that we developed.”
Check out showtimes near you for ‘The Smashing Machine’ by clicking here.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kerr recalled crying after watching the film for the first time. Check out his full comments by clicking here.
Special thanks to Chris Van Vliet for the quote(s) in this article.
