Dwayne Johnson weeps after receiving whopping 15-minute standing ovation at Venice

Dwaye ‘The Rock’ Johnson was reduced to tears while receiving a 15-minute standing ovation – one of Venice Film Festival 2025’s longest so far – for his latest starring role.

The 53-year-old actor – who rose to fame in WWE before stepping into Hollywood – has earned high praise for his performance as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the new A24 movie, which premiered at Venice Film Festival on Monday night.

Metro gave The Smashing Machine four stars, and dubbed Dwayne’s performance as ‘quiet but laser-focused’ – and one that ripped him out of his action man and light comedy lead pigeonhole into serious acting echelons.

It seems Dwayne also knew the significance of the moment, as he was filmed weeping during the standing ovation, while nestled between co-star Emily Blunt and Kerr himself.

The ovation was one of the longest so far at this year’s festival alongside Mona Fastvold’s divisive new film The Testament of Ann Lee, and 15 minutes – while not unheard of at Cannes Film Festival – is huge for Venice.

As it tradition at the Italian festival and more predominantly at Cannes, without fail every year one or two films earn standing ovations which go on forever, with the record currently set at 22 minutes after film Pan’s Labyrinth premiered at Cannes in 2006.

Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh reflected on The Rock’s big moment, writing on X: ‘Dwayne Johnson weeps during the 15-minute #Venezia2025 standing ovation for The Smashing Machine.

‘This was the most emotion we’ve seen on the Lido since Brendan Fraser launched his Oscar campaign here four years ago for The Whale.’

Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Blunt called it ‘one of the most extraordinary things’, seeing her close friend ‘completely disappear like that’.

‘It was spooky, spooky for all of us,’ she told journalists, including Metro. ‘I remember when he walked in as Mark for the first time, it changed the air in the room, it was like everyone parted, everyone went very quiet.’

‘I’m sure that sucked for you,’ she added, turning to Johnson, ‘but it was extraordinary’.

At the premiere, The Rock addressed his career change by tackling such a visceral role in Bennie Safdie’s drama after years of blockbusters.

He said: ‘This transformation was something I was really hungry to do.

‘I had been very fortunate to have the career that I’ve had over the years and to make the films that I’ve made, but there was just a voice inside of me, a little voice that said, “Well, what if I could do more — I want to do more and what does that look like?”’

He admitted the draw of the box office ‘can be very loud’, and result in an actor being pushed ‘into a corner’ where they are told ‘this is what people want you to do’.

He continued: ‘I understood that, so I made those movies, and I liked them — they were fun.

‘Some were really good and did well, and some not so good… A lot of times it’s harder for us — or at least for me, sometimes — to know what you’re capable of when you’ve been pigeon-holed…

‘And sometimes it takes people who you love and you respect, like Emily and Benny, to say you can.’

Dwayne made his film debut in 2001’s The Mummy Returns before the spin off film The Scorpion King the following year, and became known for his roles in Fast & Furious and Red Notice.

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