Updated on: Oct 16, 2025 11:05 am IST
Christopher Nolan appeared on a podcast recently and gave high praise to this actor and his recently released film. Here’s what he said.
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan recently appeared on The Director’s Cut podcast and was all praise for a recently released film and its star actor. The film might’ve gotten low openings, but the Oppenheimer filmmaker believes the actor gave the best performance for the year in it, maybe even for ‘most other years’. Here’s what he said.
Christopher Nolan all praise for this actor
Nolan was joined on the podcast by Benny Safdie, the director of The Smashing Machine. Calling Dwayne Johnson’s performance in the film ‘heartbreaking’, Nolan stated that he thought Dwayne’s portrayal of Mark was ‘incredible’. He said, “I think it’s an incredible performance. I don’t think you’ll see a better performance this year or most other years.”
Nolan also praised Benny for creating a film that he termed ‘radical’ and said, “Congratulations on the movie. It’s a really remarkable and radical piece of work that will be understood more and more over time. I’m very proud to know you.”
The connection to Oppenheimer
For the unversed, Benny played Edward Teller, a Hungarian theoretical physicist known as the ‘father of the hydrogen bomb’ in Nolan’s 2023 film Oppenheimer. Emily Blunt played Katherine ‘Kitty’ Oppenheimer, Robert Oppenheimer’s wife and a former Communist Party USA member in the film.
Benny met Emily on the set of the Nolan film and later hired her to play Mark Kerr’s wife, Dawn Staples, in The Smashing Machine. Nolan joked about it on the podcast, accusing Benny of ‘canvassing people’ on the sets of his film instead of learning his lines. He also remarked that he wasn’t aware Benny was making this film while working with him.
About The Smashing Machine
Dwayne plays two-time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, a film that tracks their volatile relationship amid the MMA champ’s career highs and lows. The film has struggled at the box office since its release. Variety reported that after a $5.9 million opening, which was a career low for Dwayne, the film has made $10 million domestically so far, versus its $50 million budget. It was released in theatres on 3 October.
