John Cena recently spoke with Collider; you can read a few highlights below:
John Cena comments on getting comfortable with comedic acting:
I think a lot of that is being comfortable with the people around you and being comfortable with the material. Even if it’s not your sense of humor, you have to understand the humor. I also know that a lot of the humor rests on me looking like an idiot, so I’m okay with that. I’m okay with looking like an idiot. Some people don’t go there, but I don’t care. You have to get the perspective of funny people and not have any reservations on looking like a dumb-ass. I just trusted Kay and trusted my co-workers, and hoped that she then put it together well.
Cena on if he ever imagined he’d be butt chugging:
No, but I couldn’t have imagined any of this. I couldn’t have imagined that I’d have a WWE match and they’d give me money for it. This is not supposed to happen. For me to digest that moment, the moment is essentially that this dude will do anything for his daughter, and then he gets called out on it. He’s a guy who’s a man of his word. He will do anything for his daughter. Not only does that statement mean something, but he genuinely means it. It’s funny as hell. You’ll laugh out loud. But if you wanna talk about a vulnerable moment for a dude who’s built like a brick shithouse, to be humbled and humiliated in front of a part full of people because he’s worried about a bad decision his daughter may or may not make, that’s where I get the depth of shoving a beer up my butt. Everybody has their own process, but that’s why it’s funny and that’s why I’ll do it. It fits in the movie. It’s not just, “Hey, so we have this gag and we wanna do the gag.” There’s meaning behind it.
Cena comments on the reception to Blockers so far:
My goodness, of course! We saw it at SXSW, which is an amazing place to premiere a movie, and people were laughing so hard that they missed a lot of the punchlines. They were laughing over five jokes. You wanna stand there and be like, “Guys, be quiet!,” but at the same time, you don’t because they’re laughing at moments. Moments outlive punchlines. The punchlines will lose their luster, after awhile, but people were laughing at the outrageous moments of the movie, and that sets something up for long-term success. They’ll just have to go back and see it again.
Cena comments on wanting to learn to play the piano:
I’ve always wanted to learn an instrument, but would talk myself out of it, every time. I’d say, “My hands are too big to play guitar,” or “I don’t think it’s gonna be harmonica.” I’ve always wanted to learn to play piano, and kept talking myself out of it. Four years ago, believe it or not, I began to study Mandarin, and I sucked. I was awful. I still suck, but I can speak it and I can understand it. After four years of studying, I can speak a second language. Half-way into that learning curve, I was like, “Stop being an idiot, get a keyboard.” I sucked, but now I can kinda play, a year and a half later. I know, three years from now, if I stick with it, I’ll probably be a little bit better. When I hit the keys, music comes out and it’s fun for me, but I had to go through that period of sucking and not being able to do anything. Give it 50 hours, and then in 50 hours, you can play something really basic. Now, I can play music.
