Published: Sep 2, 2025 by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: Sep 2, 2025 by Dave Adamson
Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.
WWE
The Rock’s new project outside of WWE has received major mainstream praise, notably receiving a lengthy standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
With the Venice International Film Festival currently underway, The Smashing Machine is competing for the coveted Golden Lion and was recently shown to attendees.
Footage has now emerged online of the reaction to the screening, with Variety Co-Editor-in-Chief Ramin Setoodah, sharing his insight, tweeting:
“Dwayne Johnson weeps during the 15-minute #Venezia2025 standing ovation for ‘The Smashing Machine.’
“This was the most emotion we’ve since on the Lido since Brendan Fraser launched his Oscar campaign here four years ago for ‘The Whale.’”
The Whale saw Fraser cast as a morbidly obese recluse and would see the star snag the Best Actor award at the 2023 Oscars.
Early reaction to The Smashing Machine has seen The Rock’s performance described as seeming “like a new actor” by Variety.
Robbie Collin of The Telegraph is noted as saying Johnson’s “performance is warm, sincere and admirably ego-less, while some phenomenally delicate facial prosthetics alter his appearance just enough that you see his character, rather than The Rock, looming up on the screen.”
IndieWire‘s Ryan Lattanzio reflected upon the movie’s chances of scoring big at the awards, conceding that Johnson earns it in the movie, as he explains: “While The Smashing Machine doesn’t play like easy awards catnip, Johnson earns a sizeable position among this year’s prize-seekers.”
As for those contenders, reporting on the reaction to The Smashing Machine, BBC News notes that “Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, George Clooney, Jesse Plemons, Timothee Chalamet and Jeremy Allen White are among the big names who could be competing with Johnson.”
Dwayne Johnson weeps during the 15-minute #Venezia2025 standing ovation for ‘The Smashing Machine.’ This was the most emotion we’ve since on the Lido since Brendan Fraser launched his Oscar campaign here four years ago for ‘The Whale.’ pic.twitter.com/BzAjB4v6uk
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) September 1, 2025
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