Just about everything Dwayne Johnson touches turns to box office gold.

Movies "The Rock" – his pro wrestling persona – has appeared in have brought in absurd amounts of ticket sales, reportedly north of $ 14 billion in his career. But with his most recent project, it wasn't about the money.

Johnson played pioneering UFC fighter Mark Kerr in "The Smashing Machine," which came out this past fall to critical acclaim, particularly for his performance. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award, and members of the Oscars' acting branch currently are in their voting process to see if Johnson will get a coveted nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards.

The fact he took the leap to play Kerr in a departure from his action hero-type roles in franchises like "The Fast & Furious," "Jumanji" and Disney's "Moana" already seemed like a win for Johnson in terms of what he wanted to accomplish. The fact he's reaping accolades for it is the bonus.

But as he said at a roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter with other current awards hopefuls (Mark Hamill, Adam Sandler, Michael B. Jordan, Jeremy Allen White, Jacob Elordi and Wagner Moura – who won the Globe that Johnson was up for), it wasn't about the money this time.

"I feel like I've had a lucky career, and I reached this point in my career maybe seven or eight years ago where I had this little voice in my ribcage – and I think we all have it. Sometimes, it whispers to us, and sometimes it's really resounding and it's pounding on us. And that voice for me was, 'Well, what's more?'" Johnson said.

"I'm obsessed – I feel, like a lot of us, probably all of us (at the table) – with a few things. And one of the things I'm obsessed with is trying and this idea of trying, and just taking a step and (thinking) 'what's yours is yours, and what's not yours is not yours,' but I do believe in setting an intention and taking a step toward the thing that you want. The universe has this way, I think, of meeting you halfway and presenting things to you – opportunities and people, etc. I have been chasing a few things in terms of my career. The big movies are fun to do. They're hard work, as we all know, and when they hit – great. A lot of people around the world will like them. They flop, that's OK – we move on. But I had this obsession to do something for me. I started asking myself, 'Am I living my dream or mine plus a lot of other people and entities around me?'"

"The Smashing Machine" biopic was based on a documentary of the same name about UFC Hall of Famer Kerr at the peak of his career in the late 1990s. In particular, it details his struggle with addiction. The film, directed by Benny Safdie and co-starring Emily Blunt, didn't live up to expectations at the box office, though, and departed theaters with a little north of $ 11 million in domestic ticket sales against a production budget reportedly around $ 50 million.

Some Oscar love for Johnson certainly would give the film an opportunity for second life. The makeup team also is on the shortlist for a nomination. Still, it was the lowest opening of a Johnson movie in his career – which is a stat he appears to be taking well because of what the part meant for him personally.

"I was moved by Mark's story because he had his addiction problems and he dealt with his demons. The thing that really grabbed my attention about the story, which is why I wanted to make it with Benny Safdie, is I felt like none of us can relate to the greatest fighter on the planet. But what we can relate to is this idea of pressure, and how we deal with pressure," Johnson said. "Sometimes we do well with it and sometimes it kicks us in the ass. And in this case with Mark, here's this guy who looks invincible, and in many ways he is – but at the same time, broken on the inside.

"I let that be the guiding light creatively and it allowed me to tap into an artistry that I was looking to do for such a long time where I can not only challenge myself, but also: 'There's the cliff. Let's f*cking jump off this cliff.' We don't know what's on the other side, and it's OK. That all led to 'The Smashing Machine' and the cliff. But we've all been on that cliff."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dwayne Johnson jumped from creative cliff to play UFC's Mark Kerr