One of the biggest Hollywood stars of all time, Dwayne Johnson, also known as the Rock, is making his A24 debut with The Smashing Machine. Based on the life of UFC fighter Mark Kerr, the upcoming movie marks a very significant departure from his usual fare. Johnson’s career started with professional wrestling, where he became a fairly big star, before transitioning into film. After taking a few smaller roles in several projects, he quickly became known as a leading actor in many huge franchise films.

Johnson’s first major career success came with the 2011 film Fast 5, where he played the agent Luke Hobbs, and since then, his career has taken off, making him one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. Fast 5 seemingly became the blueprint for the rest of Johnson’s career, and he has mostly stayed within the “action blockbuster” genre, becoming one of the highest-paid actors of all time. However, his upcoming movies are very much a departure, leading Johnson down a new, hopefully, more interesting path.

Dwayne Johnson Is Finally Embracing More Dramatic Roles With These 3 Upcoming Movies

The Actor Has Many Very Different Projects In The Works

Johnson’s next movie is The Smashing Machine, which is a fairly significant change from the majority of the roles he has taken. The film was directed by Benny Safdie of the Safdie Brothers, and as an A24 biopic, it’s safe to say this is very much out of Johnson’s regular wheelhouse. Past that, the actor has also been cast in a Martin Scorsese movie alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt once again, and another A24 film, this time a thriller called Breakthrough.

Dwayne Johnson’s Pivot To Dramatic Roles Is Fixing The Biggest Criticism Of His Career

Johnson Is Finally Changing Some Things Up

Whenever he is brought up, the inevitable comment will come up that Johnson only ever really plays the same character in every movie. He’s always someone vaguely heroic, who fights really well and never has to deal with any huge obstacles. It’s a fair criticism, as the movies he tends to go for are generally very safe blockbusters that will make a decent amount of money, only getting him to star because of name recognition as opposed to his acting talents.

While that was the case for a long time, with these three films coming up, Johnson is flipping the script on that criticism, seemingly taking it to heart and pursuing acting roles that are far different from what one would expect from him. The Smashing Machine‘s trailer showed that, while it is centered around MMA, it is looking to be a much more psychological project than most of his work. The Scorcese project is going to be a mob movie, and Johnson is supposedly going to play a much more morally ambiguous character in Breakthrough.

Dwayne Johnson, The Dramatic Actor, Is Exactly What I’ve Been Waiting For

It Will Be Very Exciting To See Him Break New Acting Ground

Johnson hasn’t had to actually try very much in recent years, simply coasting on the recognizability of his name, making him an actor that, while not terrible, was never very interesting to keep an eye on. Now, however, he has the opportunity to show off what he can actually do. With a talented director and solid script, Johnson could give some great performances that showcase his acting in a much more complete way than his usual projects could.

While, cynically, I could say that these are just Johnson’s attempt at Oscar bait, and the actor is simply trying to add another accolade to his collection, the fact that he has three of these movies in development at the same time is a good sign that he is actually trying to challenge himself with new acting roles. He hasn’t had the chance to really prove himself in years, and seeing him branch out with projects like The Smashing Machine is an exciting step forward for his career, one that plenty of people will be watching very closely.