Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Benny Safdie, ‘The Smashing Machine’ charts the highs and lows of Mark Kerr’s rise to fame as a Mixed Martial Artist, shining light in particular on his participation in the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finale in Japan. While Mark takes on talented fighters, one after the other, he also has to fight a second, more complex inner battle due to his opioid addiction. When the challenges on both fronts rise rapidly, he finds support in his loved ones, particularly his partner, Dawn Staples, and his friend and fellow martial artist, Mark Coleman. However, this psychological toll begins chipping away at his interpersonal relationships, and Mark finds the line between success and failure to be blurrier than ever. At the heart of this sports biopic movie is Mark and Dawn’s love story, and the dramatic high notes of that arc are core ingredients in the narrative’s emotional reach.
Dawn Staples and Mark Kerr Had a Complicated Relationship
Dawn Staples is a former Playboy model and a real estate investor who was in a relationship with mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. Following her education at Phoenix College in Arizona, Dawn became a professional model, with her collaboration with Playboy catapulting her into stardom. Little is known about her professional endeavors as a real estate investor. Dawn’s relationship with Mark reportedly saw a lot of hurdles, with the latter’s addiction problems straining things further. Reportedly, the couple briefly separated following Mark’s overdose in 1999, which led to his brief stay at a rehab center. While Dawn has not publicly commented on the ups and downs of their relationship, Mark reflected on his past in a conversation with Time Magazine.
In the interview, Mark stated, “What I was doing at the time was incredibly selfish. Dawn just wanted my love. She wanted to feel important. The only thing important at the time was me fighting, then the second thing that came in importance was the drug and alcohol use.” He also added that, “A lot of that volatility was because of my actions. I look back on it now, she’s a little girl asking to be loved, and I’m just a little boy that doesn’t know how to accept or give it.” In the following years, the relationship was subject to numerous speculations, with figures closely associated with Mark Kerr, such as his former trainer, Sebastiaan Rutten, claiming that their relationship troubles were a contributing factor to Mark’s decline as a martial artist. However, neither Mark nor Dawn has supported such claims in the past, effectively reiterating their speculative nature.
Dawn Staples is a Successful Interior Design Specialist
As the information card at the end of ‘The Smashing Machine’ states, Dawn Staples tied the knot with Mark Kerr in Las Vegas on May 11, 2020, about 10 days after Mark’s loss against Kazuyuki Fujita in the Pride Grand Prix 2000 finals. On September 25, 2005, they had a son named Bryce. However, by the following year, the couple had parted ways and later filed for divorce. Around this time, Staples found her niche in interior design, and in 2022, she became the owner-operator of the Phoenix-based studio, Final Touches by Design. The studio, which offers various interior design services and solutions, became a new arena for Staples to flex her creative prowess and acute business sense. It appears that Dawn and Mark have remained on good terms after their divorce and regularly engage in fun and positive interactions on their social media profiles.
As such, when the production of ‘The Smashing Machine’ began in 2024, both of them were approached for their inputs in the development of their on-screen renditions. From there, the duo has been actively involved in the making of the movie, as well as in the post-production promotional ventures. Actor Emily Blunt, who plays Dawn, has spoken at length about how her performance aimed to balance the popular narrative surrounding the couple. To that end, she cited John Hyams’ documentary of the same name and pointed out how it primarily explores many facets from Mark’s point of view. In an interview with IndieWire, Blunt stated, “I thought, there must be a whole different side to the story of someone who’s living with an addict. Not only an addict, but someone whose life is on the line constantly, whether he’s in the ring or he’s down his own (…) Who picks up the pieces, and what do the pieces really look like?”
Prior to the creation of the movie, Blunt reportedly spoke to Dawn three times, and the experience most likely added to her performance’s authenticity and depth. In the same interview, she also stated that, “When I spoke to her, she’s so reflective and contemplative about her part in things, she owns it, but also owns where she was right. I liked that about her. She was the full spectrum.” Going further, Blunt recalled the exact words Dawn used to reflect on her relationship: “It was a love story. It might’ve (…) not been a story that everyone would’ve wanted to read, but it was ours.” Her steady contribution to the storyline aligns with her overwhelmingly positive response to the film’s release, as evident from her celebrating the movie’s critical success.
Read More: The Smashing Machine’s True Story, Explained
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