The former WWE wrestler considered pursuing a career in mixed martial arts before realizing, "I don't like getting punched in the face." Johnson plays MMA fighter Mark Kerr in a new film.

Find out what really inspired Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's acclaimed new MMA movie—and how the real man at the center of the story looks back on it.

Safdie's sincerely played duet between Johnson as an opioid-addicted MMA fighter and Emily Blunt as his codependent girlfriend sounds in and out of the ring like the stuff of awards fodder. In ...