Actor Dwayne Johnson took a very different approach with his career when undergoing a physical transformation for his role as Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine. Many fans have actually noticed his dramatic weight loss on social media, however, even after the film’s production. Now Dwayne Johnson has teased that his “worrying” weight loss is so he can play the “Chicken Man” in The Smashing Machine director Benny Safdie’s next movie.
Johnson confirmed as much while speaking at the Venice Film Festival via MovieWeb where The Smashing Machine made its premiere. Interestingly, this new role for Johnson sounds like an even more drastic transformation than what he underwent for The Smashing Machine. In fact, it will require the actor portraying himself as a completely different age.
The role as the “Chicken Man” is intended for Safdie’s film titled Lizard Music, and Johnson describes the part as “a whimsical, eccentric 70-something year-old called Chicken Man.” He explained that Safdie pitched this opportunity to him following their work on The Smashing Machine.
“And after about 45 minutes, this pitch ended, and I said, ‘I am your Chicken Man.'”
Dwayne Johnson further teased his ongoing weight transformation for the part:
“I still have a long ways to go. I’m so excited to get a chance to hopefully transform again like I was able to do in Smashing Machine. [It means] eating less chicken.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Lizard Music turns out. The film is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Daniel Pinkwater. It’s a very different kind of role for Johnson, and especially different from his work on The Smashing Machine, but it’s still exciting to see that he’s eager to venture into new types of characters and appearances for his career going forward. Hopefully we’ll have more details regarding the project soon.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding Dwayne Johnson and his upcoming projects as we have them. For now, The Smashing Machine is scheduled to hit theaters on October 3, 2025.