Dwayne Johnson has admitted he was "too scared" to explore dramatic roles before The Smashing Machine came along. The former wrestler, who is best known for his action and comedy blockbusters, will soon be seen in a rare dramatic role, playing two-time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie's biographical sports drama. Johnson admitted to Vanity Fair that he experienced an unprecedented level of nerves leading up to filming because he hadn't been given many opportunities to flex his dramatic muscles. "I had not experienced that in a very, very, very long time, where I was really scared and thinking, 'I don't know if I can do this. Can I do this?'" Johnson confessed. "I realised that maybe these opportunities weren't coming my way because I was too scared to explore this stuff... I was so hungry for an opportunity to do something raw and gritty and rip myself open. And all of a sudden, Smashing Machine comes along." The Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle actor also credited his close friend and former Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt, who plays Kerr's wife Dawn, for helping him explore his vulnerable side on camera. "If Emily and I weren't best friends, I don't know that we could've gone to the places we went to," he continued. "That closeness created the trust, which then allowed for the vulnerability, which then allowed for us to go anywhere." The 53-year-old also revealed that he spent three to four hours in the make-up chair and wore 13 to 14 different prosthetics to become Kerr every day during production. Blunt described Johnson's transformation as "a full disappearance" and added, "From day one, he was elsewhere." The Smashing Machine will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 1 September ahead of a U.S. cinematic release on 3 October.