‘Still Have a Long Ways to Go’

Dwayne Johnson is actively shedding weight for an upcoming movie role.

During the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival’s “In Conversation With…” series held at the Royal Alexandra Theatre on Monday, Sept. 8, Johnson, 53, discussed his career trajectory from professional wrestling to action and family fare like the Fast & Furious franchise and Moana.

After starring in A24’s Benny Safdie-directed The Smashing Machine, Johnson is “teaming up” with the filmmaker again for his next project, he revealed to TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. “We’re gonna make a film called Lizard Music, which is based off of a novel written by Daniel Pinkwater.”

Johnson’s role, he continued, “is a very whimsical and eccentric 70-something-year-old man called the Chicken Man. And his best friend is a 70-something-year-old chicken.” As the TIFF audience laughed, he grinned. “I’m so excited because I get a chance to hopefully transform again like I was able to do in Smashing Machine. Can’t wait.”

The Smashing Machine received rave reviews after premiering at the Venice Film Festival a week prior; Safdie, 39, received the fest’s directing award. Costarring Emily Blunt, it shares its title with the 2003 documentary about former MMA fighter and UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr, who secretly battled addiction while he reigned in the ring. Johnson has said he spent up to four hours per day in the makeup chair, putting on more than a dozen prosthetics in order to transform into Kerr, 56.

After bulking up to play the athlete, Johnson confirmed he’s losing weight ahead of Lizard Music. To play the Chicken Man, he quipped that he’s eating “less chicken.”

“This is me slimmed down,” he said. “In the process of slimming down. I still have a long ways to go.”

Johnson’s “In Conversation With…” talk, which included a surprise appearance from Blunt, 42, and Safdie, spanned the success of the wrestler-turned actor’s Moana and his ongoing collaborations with Kevin Hart. A third Jumanji film, following Johnson and Hart’s 2017 action-comedy and 2019 sequel, will soon “start shooting,” he confirmed.

Asked about what he learned from his days wrestling as The Rock, the actor talked about the importance of “[sending] people home happy… That helped me when I made the transition into Hollywood because it really allowed me to stay connected to the audience. Remember that they are the ones who get you to where you want to go. They buy the tickets, they spend the money, they will cheer you, they will not cheer you.”

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During a Sept. 1 press conference ahead of The Smashing Machine‘s debut, Johnson grew emotional talking about his career shift, saying, “I looked around a few years ago and I started to think … am I living my dream or am I living other people’s dreams?” 

He recalled coming to a crossroads of sorts, saying, “you could either fall in line and, well, it’s status quo. Things are good. I don’t want to rock the boat or go, you know what? I want to live my dreams now and do what I want and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into.”

The Smashing Machine is in theaters Oct. 3.