John
09-10-2010, 07:58 AM
-- John Cena recently sat down with IGN and talked about his new movie Legendary. Here are some of the highlights:
On how he landed the role of Mike: I wasn't even approached with the role. It was - aside from The Marine because The Marine was kind of last minute and they said "we need you to do this thing" - it was very much like 12 Rounds and a new movie that I'll be working on in October. I was given the script and it was like "Hey, we got a couple of projects, just let us know what you think." I read it cover to cover in one sitting and I'm not a reader. If I'm not reading Auto Trader, I'm not reading anything. I loved it. I didn't even say that I wanted to be Mike Chetley. I just said that I wanted to be involved with it some way. It was an inspirational story. It was about high school sports, coaching and the interaction between family and brothers. I have five brothers. It really hit home. I think that's the most important thing when you're filming something like that. Especially with someone of my low-experience level. You're gonna get the best performance out of something you can wrap your hands around. And then they asked me to play Big Mike. And I said "no problem." It fit to a "T."
On finding time to shoot movies with his busy WWE schedule: Time isn't an issue. Everyone likes to talk about scheduling. I've been doing this with the WWE for eight years now. I know exactly what I'm getting into. I don't mind it. I keep telling people that if it was something that I hated doing it would be a grind. But I love being in the WWE. I'm the first one to show up and I'm always the last one to leave and I love doing the movies. It's two different things. We can go out there and tell a story on RAW and I'll immediately know if the story was good or bad. But in a movie you have to really invest yourself over a period of months and then in months of post-production and interviews. And then you get the pay-off when the movie opens. It's the same result, it's just a longer process and I dig that. It's a great comparison. And it's a breath of fresh air after doing 300 events every year for the past eight years.
On working with co-star Devon Gaye: Devon was awesome. He was Cal. Extremely educated. Extremely well-spoken. Not an athlete. Raised in England. He really does, like his character, listen to opera. And when we were going through all this stuff, with the training and with weight-distribution, we just rolled camera. Because I was starting from scratch with him and wrestling, like all sports, is about balance. Balance and knowing how to use your body with someone else's body. So we just went over basics. And you could see him just "get it." He walked in not knowing what the hell he was doing. The kid kind of knows how to wrestle now. Because he didn't know anything. And even when he was learning he was a bit klutzy and would stumble over himself. It was a like a baby deer trying to run. But you can see him actually learn throughout the course of the movie. Like you see him learn how to shoot a single-leg. How to take someone down. How to do a half-nelson. It was really cool to watch his progression. And I think because I was helping him so much we developed a relationship.
On working with Patricia Clarkson: That was like being put in the New York Yankees lineup. I'll use Nick Swisher as an example. Hit 216 with the Chicago White Sox. Put him with the Yankees, he's an all-star. When you get put next to an all-star you raise your performance. You step your game up. She was unbelievable and you can't not get emotionally involved when you're on camera next to her. When you're working with somebody of that caliber and you can't feel what you're doing you need to quit. Because she's that good. It was an absolute pleasure. She was teaching without teaching. By just performing.
On WWE Films' new direction with more dramatic movies: I love it. Big Show's got a film coming out. Hunter's got two films coming out. Edge is filming one right now. I'm doing another one in October. Very dramatically rooted. We do our best work when we tell a good story. Like at SummerSlam with Nexus. Fantastic story. You want to see it. When the story is good and you surround yourself with good people you're going to get a good product.
Source - eWn.
On how he landed the role of Mike: I wasn't even approached with the role. It was - aside from The Marine because The Marine was kind of last minute and they said "we need you to do this thing" - it was very much like 12 Rounds and a new movie that I'll be working on in October. I was given the script and it was like "Hey, we got a couple of projects, just let us know what you think." I read it cover to cover in one sitting and I'm not a reader. If I'm not reading Auto Trader, I'm not reading anything. I loved it. I didn't even say that I wanted to be Mike Chetley. I just said that I wanted to be involved with it some way. It was an inspirational story. It was about high school sports, coaching and the interaction between family and brothers. I have five brothers. It really hit home. I think that's the most important thing when you're filming something like that. Especially with someone of my low-experience level. You're gonna get the best performance out of something you can wrap your hands around. And then they asked me to play Big Mike. And I said "no problem." It fit to a "T."
On finding time to shoot movies with his busy WWE schedule: Time isn't an issue. Everyone likes to talk about scheduling. I've been doing this with the WWE for eight years now. I know exactly what I'm getting into. I don't mind it. I keep telling people that if it was something that I hated doing it would be a grind. But I love being in the WWE. I'm the first one to show up and I'm always the last one to leave and I love doing the movies. It's two different things. We can go out there and tell a story on RAW and I'll immediately know if the story was good or bad. But in a movie you have to really invest yourself over a period of months and then in months of post-production and interviews. And then you get the pay-off when the movie opens. It's the same result, it's just a longer process and I dig that. It's a great comparison. And it's a breath of fresh air after doing 300 events every year for the past eight years.
On working with co-star Devon Gaye: Devon was awesome. He was Cal. Extremely educated. Extremely well-spoken. Not an athlete. Raised in England. He really does, like his character, listen to opera. And when we were going through all this stuff, with the training and with weight-distribution, we just rolled camera. Because I was starting from scratch with him and wrestling, like all sports, is about balance. Balance and knowing how to use your body with someone else's body. So we just went over basics. And you could see him just "get it." He walked in not knowing what the hell he was doing. The kid kind of knows how to wrestle now. Because he didn't know anything. And even when he was learning he was a bit klutzy and would stumble over himself. It was a like a baby deer trying to run. But you can see him actually learn throughout the course of the movie. Like you see him learn how to shoot a single-leg. How to take someone down. How to do a half-nelson. It was really cool to watch his progression. And I think because I was helping him so much we developed a relationship.
On working with Patricia Clarkson: That was like being put in the New York Yankees lineup. I'll use Nick Swisher as an example. Hit 216 with the Chicago White Sox. Put him with the Yankees, he's an all-star. When you get put next to an all-star you raise your performance. You step your game up. She was unbelievable and you can't not get emotionally involved when you're on camera next to her. When you're working with somebody of that caliber and you can't feel what you're doing you need to quit. Because she's that good. It was an absolute pleasure. She was teaching without teaching. By just performing.
On WWE Films' new direction with more dramatic movies: I love it. Big Show's got a film coming out. Hunter's got two films coming out. Edge is filming one right now. I'm doing another one in October. Very dramatically rooted. We do our best work when we tell a good story. Like at SummerSlam with Nexus. Fantastic story. You want to see it. When the story is good and you surround yourself with good people you're going to get a good product.
Source - eWn.