Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson unrecognisable in The Smashing Machine set photos

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has started filming his new movie, The Smashing Machine. Photo / Getty Images

One of Hollywood’s most well-known actors, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, looks unrecognisable in a new photo.

The 52-year-old former WWE wrestler is currently filming The Smashing Machine - a biopic on former UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr, with a recent set image showing a very different-looking Johnson.

Taking to Instagram, Johnson shared an image from the first day on set, showing himself after he transformed into his character - who is understood to be between 20 and 30 in the film.

With Johnson captioning the post: “First look at Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine starring @therock and Emily Blunt”, fans quickly flocked to the comment section where they pointed out how different the actor looked.

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A post shared by Dwayne Johnson (@therock)

One person wrote: “Give the make up team the award now”, while another added: “Is that you, Rock? Nice work by the prosthetics and make up team”.

A third person wrote: “That’s some crazy transformation! Wow”, another said: “It’s wild how different you look.”

The Daily Mail has reported the actor’s transformation included prosthetic make-up to accurately depict Kerr’s half-Irish, half-Puerto Rican ethnicity and much younger look, as well as a wig and body make-up to cover the star’s infamous tattoo.

The star was also “de-aged” for the film with the help of Oscar-winning make-up designer Kazu Hiro, who is most well known for his work on Bradley Cooper in Maestro and Charlize Theron in Bombshell.

Mark Kerr won the heavyweight tournament at UFC 14 in 1997. Photo / Getty Images

The news outlet reported Johnson underwent five months of physical training in preparation for the film, which he will produce and star in.

Set to be the solo feature debut of director Benny Safdie, filming for The Smashing Machine officially kicked off earlier this week.

Alongside Johnson, Oscar nominee Emily Blunt will appear in the film as Kerr’s wife, Dawn Staples. Lyndsey Gavin, Oleksandr Usyk and Ryan Bader will also co-star, with the movie set to be released in 2025.