Dwayne Johnson has "learned a deeper level of empathy" for his late father

Speaking to LIVE from E!: Golden Globes 2026, he said: "What the film pushed me to do was to be radically empathetic to those who are struggling, because I had a complicated relationship with the human being who struggled with addiction, and that's my dad.

"He's no longer here, and he struggled with his addictions.

"So through this film, I learned a deeper level of empathy for people who are out there, who are struggling."

Dwayne followed in his father's professional wrestling footsteps and became a global superstar as The Rock.

The Smashing Machine - which told the story of former MMA fighter Kerr - marked his most serious role to date, while allowing him to perform a "love letter" to people he's lost.

He added: "Over the past decade and a half, I've lost 15 friends to addiction and to suicide.

"And in a way, The Smashing Machine was a love letter to them, and also a love letter to those who are still here but still fighting. "And if you're struggling with addiction, struggling with mental health, or if you love someone who's struggling with addiction like I did, then stay in the fight, because on another side of that struggle is some sort of grace."

The movie also earned Dwayne his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Male Actor in a Motion Picture Drama.

He was on the shortlist alongside Frankenstein's Oscar Isaac, Train Dreams actor Joel Edgerton, Sinners star Michael B. Jordan, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere's Jeremy Allen White, and Wagner Moura, who won the award for his role in The Secret Agent.

Meanwhile, Dwayne's Smashing Machine castmate Emily Blunt missed out on the Best Supporting Female Actor in a Motion Picture prize, which was won by One Battle After Another star Teyana Taylor.