Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson were regarded as Oscar prospects at the start of awards season for their performances in Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine, so why did their campaign go off the boil?
Dwayne Johnson tests his acting prowess in the biopic of MMA fighter Mark Kerr, The Smashing Machine but why wasn't his work enough to land him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor?
Real life MMA fighter Ryan Bader gives a good account of himself in The Smashing Machine, playing another legend of the sport Mark Coleman.
Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine feels like Rocky if it had really gone down a neo realist route but, with a solitary nomination for Make-Up and Hairstyling, why didn't the film starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt not get more love at this year's Academy Awards?
LOSING IT: Hopes were high at the start of #awardsseason for #DwayneJohnson & #EmilyBlunt in #TheSmashingMachine. But #BennySafdie's movie never built momentum & secured just one #Oscar nomination for make-up and hairstyling. Did it deserve more?.. pomonarewind.blogspot.com/2026/03/losi...