When big stars take on roles requiring facial prosthetics, “it’s often a sign they want to be taken more seriously”, said Dulcie Pearce in The Sun . Think Bradley Cooper in “Maestro” and Steve Carell in “Foxcatcher”. Now, for indie director Benny Safdie’s biopic, Dwayne Johnson has spent hours in “the make-up artist’s chair” to make himself look like the real-life mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr.
Of course, Johnson (aka The Rock) was himself a wrestling champ before he became one of Hollywood’s most bankable action stars, and he still has the bulked-up physique to prove it, but this role requires him to flex his acting muscles rather more than he has in his career to date.
Kerr is a fearsome figure “whose biggest struggles” are mostly on the inside, said Alissa Wilkinson in Th