John Cena calls Barbie ‘a mistake', says Fast and Furious was ‘a dream come true': ‘I shot both films simultaneously'

Indian Express

09-07-2025

Transitioning from the WWE to acting can be a tough gig, and only a handful of wrestlers have successfully pulled it off, including big names such as The Rock and John Cena, who are arguably the biggest to ever make the switch. Cena made his acting debut with The Marine (2006), and since then his skill as an actor has exponentially increased. In a recent interview, the wrestler talked about his stint as an actor and some of his most known roles from Hollywood.
Cena told Vanity Fair that he wasn't always very efficient when choosing scripts for himself and admits that he has done a lot of 'sh**** movies'. He said, 'Working on Trainwreck was great because Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer created that safe space for me. They made it clear that the script doesn't matter and I can do whatever I want as long as it's funny, and I am very grateful to both of them for that. Then Peacemaker came around, and that was great because James Gunn is the best director I have ever worked with. I got the chance to channel the human within that flawed character who will do anything for peace, and it was an amazing experience.'
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Talking about his stint as Jakob Toretto in Fast 9, the wrestler said, 'It was a dream come true to be able to play the long-lost brother of Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel). To be able to work as a newbie and enter a cast which has worked together for 2 decades was great, and everyone was so nice and welcoming. It was very different from what I used to do in the WWE because I am used to going out, putting on a show for 25 mins and then coming back. This required patience, and it took me a lot of time to adjust to that.'
Finally Cena addressed his epic cameo from Barbie and how that entire gig came to be. He talked about a random evening where he was having dinner with his wife, and he met someone whom he could not attend to in the way he would have liked. 'So I decided that I would do something nice for them and offered to pay for their table. Turns out that Margot Robbie was hosting that table, and we got to talking. She told me about Barbie, and I told her how I wanted to be a part of the project, but the producers won't have me. Incidentally, she was having dinner with the people that could make it happen, and they did. It was all a mistake, and it happened so suddenly. I ended up shooting for two films simultaneously, but it was okay because the sets were literally in front of each other.'