When Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wanted to challenge himself as an actor by exploring the pain of fighting, he turned to only one person: cage fighting star Mark Carr.
Few athletes have inflicted as much pain, and suffered in return, as two-time mixed martial arts heavyweight champion Mark.
The 19 stone giant punched his opponent with his bare hands, gouged his eyes and headbutted him.
The in-ring feuds that made The Rock famous in WWE seem tame in comparison.
The Hollywood heavyweight, who is accustomed to comedy-action roles, will now appear on screen in his first major role as a legendary fighter.
Now I want to push myself in a different way: I want to make meaningful films that explore humanity and suffering.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
And the 52-year-old hair His transformation into a deeply troubled protagonist in The Smashing Machine isn't the only thing that will surprise fans.
The Rock said: “I'm at a point in my career where I want to push myself in a different way than I've done before. I want to make meaningful films that explore humanity and suffering.”
The film charts how Mark, who trained at the same gym as Johnson in the '90s, made his way to glory.
But the steroids, painkillers and methadone left the ring giant in tears and in grave danger of an overdose.
The film, which is currently in production, also stars Emily Blunt as Mark's ex-wife Dawn Staples, and world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk will make his acting debut as a mixed martial arts rival.
In an exclusive interview, Mark, who retired from the ring in 2009 to become a car dealer, reveals that after reaching the top of MMA he hit rock bottom.
“Dirty Secret”
Born in Toledo, Ohio, the youngest of six children, he wrestled with his older brother Matt at an early age and began wrestling in school.
Although Tom says his father was an alcoholic, he says he comes from a “great family” and that his mother, Mary, “was very strict with me to succeed in sport.”
His athletic career began while attending Syracuse University in New York, where he won the NCAA championship in 1992 at the age of 24.
That led him to billionaire John du Pont's infamous Foxcatcher Wrestling Center, where Mark would pursue his dream of making the Olympic team.
But four years later, everything went horribly wrong.
Mark recalls, “In January of 1996, my friend Dave Schultz was murdered by John DuPont, the owner of the Foxcatcher facility where I was wrestling.”
The eccentric and controlling du Pont shot and killed Dave, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist wrestler, while he was training and coaching at his Pennsylvania gym.
No motive was ever revealed, and du Pont served a 13-to-30-year sentence for murder, later dying in prison. The harrowing story was depicted in the 2014 film “Foxcatcher,” starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.
In late January of that year, Mark's beloved mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and passed away in September 1996.
An injury then ended his hopes of making the national team for that year's Atlanta Olympics.
Needing money, Mark turned to mixed martial arts, but in 1997, MMA was a much more brutal sport than it is today.
Back then, gloves weren't used and pretty much anything was allowed on the bloody canvas, including Mark punching another fighter who'd slipped through the ropes.
That animal instinct was depicted in The Smashing Machine, a documentary made about Mark in 2002.
In it, he states that he has the attitude, “I'm going to hurt him before he hurts me.”
Cockfighting was so violent that Senator John McCain coined the sport “human cockfighting.”
Like other American politicians, he was, in effect, the ultimate fighting force. Championship — an American mixed martial arts promotion company — was banned from television in 1996.
Mark recalls, “I remember going to look for martial arts VHS tapes, and the UFC tape was right in the back of the video store. Next “Porn. That's how dirty a secret it was.”
In 1997, Mark won the UFC Heavyweight title for the second time in a row, the second time coming just one minute into the bout. However, due to television restrictions, money In America, Mark is seeking bigger match fees. Japan.
At the peak of his career he was earning more than £150,000 per game.
His biggest fight came in 1999 against Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Igor Vovchanchyn.
Igor broke the rules by hitting Mark in the head with his knee while he was on the ground, and the match was declared a “no contest”, effectively a draw.
You will not be able to take in enough oxygen and your blood will become acidic.
Mark Carr
Despite the introduction of gloves in 1997 and the banning of strikes to the spine, throat and back in 2001, the sport remained a bone-crunching affair.
Rather than allow his injured body the time it needed to recover, Mark opted for the quicker option.
He reveals: “Instead of going to rehab, my shortcut was to train while on opioids, steroids and painkillers. I didn't know what drug addiction was and if I didn't take it every day I would get extremely ill.”
“Once you become addicted to drugs, including opioids, you can't just go back and say, 'Oh, I'm going to feel free to use.' It doesn't work that way.”
In the documentary, he openly used a syringe to inject himself with painkillers, and also took steroids to build up his bulging muscles.
Mark says: “I had no idea what I was getting into or what the risks of using performance-enhancing drugs really were.”
Things got worse when methadone, a heroin substitute, was added to the mix of drugs circulating in his system.
“I had no idea what a terrible drug it was,” he recalled.
He was about to die.
Mark explains: “You stop breathing, your heart stops beating, you're not getting enough oxygen and your blood becomes acidic.”
In October 1999, he collapsed from a drug overdose and was left fighting for survival in hospital.
He continues, “You either get out of it or you sink further down. It was one of those horrible experiences.”
Mentally wounded
Mark managed to pull through, but the incident left him scarred both mentally and physically.
It's like standing on top of a 1,000 foot tall building and suddenly jumping off the edge thinking gravity doesn't work for you. Gravity works for everyone.
Mark Carr
He said: “A year later I woke up from my sleep trying to breathe as if I was drowning. It was a really frightening experience.”
The wrestler also endured a long battle with alcohol, often overdosing when he was off other drugs. Friends convinced Mark to go to rehab, and now he's sober and drug-free.
He says: “I’ve been sober for a while now, completely sober from everything, but it’s been a long journey.
“One of my failings as an athlete is that I feel like the rules don't apply to me sometimes.
“It's like standing on top of a 1,000-foot-tall building and suddenly gravity doesn't work for you and you jump off the edge. Gravity works for everyone.”
However, his chaotic lifestyle was putting a lot of strain on his relationship with his wife, Dawn.
He and former Playboy model Bryce, with whom he has 19-year-old son Bryce, divorced in 2006 after six years of marriage.
He admitted: “There were physical altercations between me and Dawn. We were punching each other and arguing.”
“Tumultuous is probably not the right word. It was a really toxic, crazy, unhealthy relationship.”
The two remain good friends today, and Mark has recently remarried, to fitness consultant Francie Alberding.
Mark struggles to get back to his best and the crowd England We never got to witness the true smashing machine in action when he lost to Mustafa Al-Turk at the 2007 Cage Rage tournament in London.
He admitted: “I wish I had been in a better state emotionally, mentally and physically for the Cage Rage bout.”
Five losses towards the end of his career led him to decide to retire in 2009 and join a Toyota dealership.
He now runs a fitness equipment company.
That The Rock will be seeing his life story told on the big screen is a strange development considering the two first met in 1999 while working out at the same gym in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.
He recalled their first meeting many years ago: “Dwayne Johnson literally came into the gym, found me, and was like, 'Hey, do you want to have lunch?' He was asking me all about what it was like fighting in Japan.”
Twenty years later, Johnson contacted Mark again and said, “I'm thinking of making a movie about your life. This is my passion.”
Confronting Usyk, who played Igor, on set, Johnson joked, “Don't break my jaw, champ.”
Ahead of filming, The Rock told Mark: “Playing this role is the greatest honor of my life.”
Mark believes the actor will do justice to his life story, concluding: “When he says it, it gives me goosebumps because I know he means it.”
