Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson discussed his “transformation” amid the Venice Film Festival premiere of his movie The Smashing Machine.

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Starring alongside Emily Blunt, Dwayne plays real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr in a biopic following his relationship and addiction struggles. It’s directed by Benny Safdie, and has already gotten a lot of Oscar buzz.

Some have subsequently noted that the actor has appeared quite different amid the press cycle for his new dramatic turn. Speaking to Vanity Fair about his look in the movie, he said, “I just sat in front of that mirror for three to four hours and watched it all change. There were about 13 or 14 different prosthetics. Subtle, yet I think very impactful.”

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“By the time I got to set, I was Mark Kerr and I felt it, from how he walked to how he talked and how he looked at life,” he continued. As for working with his Jungle Cruise co-star, he added, “If Emily and I weren’t best friends, I don’t know that we could’ve gone to the places we went to. That closeness created the trust, which then allowed for the vulnerability, which then allowed for [us to] go anywhere.”

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Dwayne echoed the sentiment while speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, explaining, “This transformation was something I was really hungry to do…I had been very fortunate to have the career that I’ve had over the years and to make the films that I’ve made, but there was just a voice inside of me, a little voice that said, ‘Well, what if I could do more — I want to do more and what does that look like?’”

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“From the time we worked on Jungle Cruise together, she really encouraged and believed in me and said, ‘You know, there’s a place that you can put all the stuff that you have gone through as a kid,’ he further recalled. “I’ve been very close with Emily and shared a lot of everything that I’ve gone through, and she said, ‘That place is what you love to do, which is acting — and you have me — so let’s do this together.'”

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“And then Benny was on the other side of that, saying, ‘Hey, I got you both, and let’s go for it.’ So that transformation could not have happened without my best friend being there to support and encourage me,” he added.

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Here’s Dwayne next to the real-life Mark Kerr.

The Smashing Machine will be released on Oct. 3.