Dangerous Incorporated
10-15-2006, 11:29 PM
2 Cena Interviews
Q & A: John Cena
Nervous nookie: On-screen sex with Carlson made him "more nervous than a senior at prom night."
John Cena's known for pummeling opponents in the WWE ring (and to some for his side career as a rapper), but like Hulk Hogan and The Rock before him, Cena's been bitten by the acting bug. In his first film, this week's The Marine, Cena uses all those muscles to play a fresh-from-Iraq soldier who must now rescue his kidnapped wife (Kelly Carlson). The role of movie hero is nice and all, but Cena says his first love will always be giving a good smack-down to another dude in a spandex suit.
Sadly, he didn't get to "train" for his sexy scenes with Carlson.
"I just tried to kiss her. I don't think you can teach kissing, that's something that's got to be there. You can't fake that stuff, there's got to be some emotion there."
Movie sex: boring or hot?
"It's a PG-13 movie, we don't get nude. All we did was heavy petting and make out, and that was wonderful. That wasn't boring for me — she was hot!"
Still, there's pressure to perform.
"I was more nervous than a senior at prom night."
Talk about bling!: Cena shows off his WWE championship belt.
http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8229/cenafrazerharrisonry5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
He's like Shakespeare in the ring.
"What we do [in the ring] is more like live theater. Acting in an actual movie and being on that giant screen, the most subtle movement can be the most unbelievable thing. I really had to tone down the volume. In world wrestling, we're told to be as 'big' as possible."
So many nicknames, so little sense …
"'Prototype' is an old name. That was my first wrestling persona. I started out as a half-man, half-machine–type character just because of my physical appearance. 'The Franchise' was kind of a name that was dubbed to me when I got popular. I was kind of the face of SmackDown. 'Dr. of Thugonomics' was the best that somebody could do when I started giving people my love for hip-hop music. My style in the ring was very street. I would bring chains to the ring, I would win at any and all costs; I was very racy and crass and that's just what somebody came up with."
He's a white wrestler who raps, so, yeah, there's some backlash.
"I had to fight some of the stereotypes once again to come out with [my album]. Me not only being a WWE star, but a WWE star from West Newbury, Mass. I like to tell everyone it's the mean street of West Newbury, because there's only one street in town."
Note to K-Fed: Watch your back!
"You know what, I haven't heard his music, so I don't know if I'm better or not. But I'm willing to call him out for a freestyle challenge."
Or even a smack-down.
"I don't know him as a person, but from what I see, if he would be willing to get in the ring with me, I'd take that challenge as well. … Not too many people get under my skin. He's about the one and only I would want to get in with."
A wrestler's greatest secret: How much can he bench-press?
"I can't tell you. Those are the secrets I've got to keep. I would like you to find out another way."
Or maybe it's this:
"I do have a softer side. Very rarely on our program do [fans] get to see that, because I'm always going to the ring to kick somebody's ass. I'm definitely a little bit of a helpless romantic. … When it's time to fight, I'll fight, but I'm just a big teddy bear."
The Rock is his main crush.
"He's done well in identifying himself to the general public as a legitimate actor. I would really love to be the same, but I don't think I'll leave wrestling."
Not even for the money and the fame?
"No, because to be honest, that's where my comfort zone is. I've been [wrestling] for the past five years. That's like playing baseball for a career and then switching to golf. I like both of the things, but I'm more inexperienced as an actor, so for the next movie that comes down the road, I'm just going to have to do more homework."
Or he could just use muscle to sway a casting director, right?
"No … in the ring, that's OK; in real life, that's assault."
Slippery when wet: "He's not as oiled in person," Cena says of the Hulkster.
Good old-fashioned character study works, too.
"When you get to spend that much time [in Iraq] with the troops, you hear stories, you get a legitimate opinion. We got to go to the front lines, where most of the conflict happens. So you really get to meet such a variety of people. I try to put my attitude and their experiences into one big ball and make it happen."
True or false: Hulk Hogan is a greasy freak.
"No, he's not as oiled in person, but he's legitimately very close to the personality you see on VH1's Hogan Knows Best. In person, he's an unbelievably nice guy."
All this attention is still a surprise.
"If you asked me five years ago, I would never say I would be a WWE champion or have a movie out. I'm very lucky to be having all this going on."
Of course, he's quick to cast his own biopic.
"Matt Damon, because I've been compared to a Matt Damon who looks like he's on steroids, who ate another Matt Damon for breakfast."
Source: Movies.com
Big Bad John
Wrestler-turned-rapper John Cena turns action star with his first movie, "The Marine."
'Third floor, can't miss him," says the guy at the gym counter. And by floor two, looking up at that final flight of stairs, you understand. Glaring down from the top step is a beast of a man, shirtless, ripped and ready to throw down. He's got his arm cocked back, his hand held in a fist, his leg slightly raised, and he stays just so, frozen in that I'm-gonna-punch-you pose. Pop goes a camera, and Flex magazine has its cover shot.
"Great," says a photographer. "Now, for this last one, just do whatever you want. Anything."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
The cover boy happily obliges, squats in closer to the lens and, um, raises two middle fingers. Flash, some laughter all around, and that's a wrap.
Meet John Cena, the ripped wrestling star, coming to a theater near you in this weekend's action-packed movie "The Marine."
"I've always been a ham," says Cena, later recalling another photo once taken of him. He was about 5, attending his brother's grade-school play, and before the show began, he ran up onstage to tell the audience he was Superman. And then he dived, and then he dropped.
"Steel chairs below," he remembers. "My parents still have the picture of me, peeking up, with a smile on my face and two huge black eyes, all because I wanted to be Superman in front of everybody ... I've always wanted to entertain."
Cena, now 29, is a WWE television fixture and, at press time, the reigning champ.
He raps, too. His wrestling popularity was built on his ability to freestyle on opponents before matches, psyching them out, a talent he later translated into a hit rap album.
And now Cena acts: In "The Marine," a rubber-burning, pistol-popping, men-flying-through-windows action flick, he plays an honorably discharged Marine in hot pursuit of his kidnapped wife and the men who took her.
Wrestler-turned-rapper-turned-actor. Uh-huh. Cena has seen the eyes roll -- and he makes no apologies. Growing up in the small town of West Newbury, Mass., he loved wrestling -- watched it on TV every weekend with his father and four brothers. Beginning at age 13, he loved rap, too, and its "nature of rebellion," he says, "the do-what-everybody-else-isn't-doing, do-it-loud-and-be-proud-of-it" message.
But in his small, mostly white town, these likes led to trouble. "I got beat up, picked on, got called every name in the freakin' book," Cena remembers. "At the same time, I never once said, 'OK, I'm going with the herd now.' "
Instead, he went to the gym, and by 15, he had pumped enough iron to where nobody messed with John Cena. Nobody made fun of his Fat Boys rap album, his baggy pants, his high-top fade. He watched what he wanted, listened to what he wanted, did what he wanted.
Going from the one-take wrestling routine to the more scripted, multi-take ritual of making a movie was a humbling experience. "I had to tell everybody I was working with, 'Listen, this is my first time out ... Straight up, if it's bad, tell me it's bad,' " he says.
With much help and many takes, "I think I got the hang of it," Cena says. But don't think he's ready to leave the mat, ŕ la The Rock. "Whatever opportunity comes around," he says, "I'm gonna take it by the horns. But I'm not using wrestling as a springboard to get me somewhere else. My home is in that ring."
Exclusive! John Cena's USA WEEKEND Rap
Cena's rise to WWE wrestling stardom came on the shoulders of his ability to freestyle. So, at the end of our interview at a Manhattan gym, we put him up to the challenge. Here's what he delivered:
This is John Cena, WWE, bear witness
"Flex" magazine, cover, Mr. Fitness
Eat your protein bars and drink your shakes up
I'm gettin' money, 'bout to get the cake up
Fatigue hat, camo' to the background
Comin' up, I'm Raw, but I still SmackDown,
Your face got the bass killin' in the beat
This is a cappella, still my name's spillin' in the street
Yeah, that's right, this is John Cena and we leakin'
Read the publication USA WEEKEND
Source: USA Weekend
Q & A: John Cena
Nervous nookie: On-screen sex with Carlson made him "more nervous than a senior at prom night."
John Cena's known for pummeling opponents in the WWE ring (and to some for his side career as a rapper), but like Hulk Hogan and The Rock before him, Cena's been bitten by the acting bug. In his first film, this week's The Marine, Cena uses all those muscles to play a fresh-from-Iraq soldier who must now rescue his kidnapped wife (Kelly Carlson). The role of movie hero is nice and all, but Cena says his first love will always be giving a good smack-down to another dude in a spandex suit.
Sadly, he didn't get to "train" for his sexy scenes with Carlson.
"I just tried to kiss her. I don't think you can teach kissing, that's something that's got to be there. You can't fake that stuff, there's got to be some emotion there."
Movie sex: boring or hot?
"It's a PG-13 movie, we don't get nude. All we did was heavy petting and make out, and that was wonderful. That wasn't boring for me — she was hot!"
Still, there's pressure to perform.
"I was more nervous than a senior at prom night."
Talk about bling!: Cena shows off his WWE championship belt.
http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8229/cenafrazerharrisonry5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
He's like Shakespeare in the ring.
"What we do [in the ring] is more like live theater. Acting in an actual movie and being on that giant screen, the most subtle movement can be the most unbelievable thing. I really had to tone down the volume. In world wrestling, we're told to be as 'big' as possible."
So many nicknames, so little sense …
"'Prototype' is an old name. That was my first wrestling persona. I started out as a half-man, half-machine–type character just because of my physical appearance. 'The Franchise' was kind of a name that was dubbed to me when I got popular. I was kind of the face of SmackDown. 'Dr. of Thugonomics' was the best that somebody could do when I started giving people my love for hip-hop music. My style in the ring was very street. I would bring chains to the ring, I would win at any and all costs; I was very racy and crass and that's just what somebody came up with."
He's a white wrestler who raps, so, yeah, there's some backlash.
"I had to fight some of the stereotypes once again to come out with [my album]. Me not only being a WWE star, but a WWE star from West Newbury, Mass. I like to tell everyone it's the mean street of West Newbury, because there's only one street in town."
Note to K-Fed: Watch your back!
"You know what, I haven't heard his music, so I don't know if I'm better or not. But I'm willing to call him out for a freestyle challenge."
Or even a smack-down.
"I don't know him as a person, but from what I see, if he would be willing to get in the ring with me, I'd take that challenge as well. … Not too many people get under my skin. He's about the one and only I would want to get in with."
A wrestler's greatest secret: How much can he bench-press?
"I can't tell you. Those are the secrets I've got to keep. I would like you to find out another way."
Or maybe it's this:
"I do have a softer side. Very rarely on our program do [fans] get to see that, because I'm always going to the ring to kick somebody's ass. I'm definitely a little bit of a helpless romantic. … When it's time to fight, I'll fight, but I'm just a big teddy bear."
The Rock is his main crush.
"He's done well in identifying himself to the general public as a legitimate actor. I would really love to be the same, but I don't think I'll leave wrestling."
Not even for the money and the fame?
"No, because to be honest, that's where my comfort zone is. I've been [wrestling] for the past five years. That's like playing baseball for a career and then switching to golf. I like both of the things, but I'm more inexperienced as an actor, so for the next movie that comes down the road, I'm just going to have to do more homework."
Or he could just use muscle to sway a casting director, right?
"No … in the ring, that's OK; in real life, that's assault."
Slippery when wet: "He's not as oiled in person," Cena says of the Hulkster.
Good old-fashioned character study works, too.
"When you get to spend that much time [in Iraq] with the troops, you hear stories, you get a legitimate opinion. We got to go to the front lines, where most of the conflict happens. So you really get to meet such a variety of people. I try to put my attitude and their experiences into one big ball and make it happen."
True or false: Hulk Hogan is a greasy freak.
"No, he's not as oiled in person, but he's legitimately very close to the personality you see on VH1's Hogan Knows Best. In person, he's an unbelievably nice guy."
All this attention is still a surprise.
"If you asked me five years ago, I would never say I would be a WWE champion or have a movie out. I'm very lucky to be having all this going on."
Of course, he's quick to cast his own biopic.
"Matt Damon, because I've been compared to a Matt Damon who looks like he's on steroids, who ate another Matt Damon for breakfast."
Source: Movies.com
Big Bad John
Wrestler-turned-rapper John Cena turns action star with his first movie, "The Marine."
'Third floor, can't miss him," says the guy at the gym counter. And by floor two, looking up at that final flight of stairs, you understand. Glaring down from the top step is a beast of a man, shirtless, ripped and ready to throw down. He's got his arm cocked back, his hand held in a fist, his leg slightly raised, and he stays just so, frozen in that I'm-gonna-punch-you pose. Pop goes a camera, and Flex magazine has its cover shot.
"Great," says a photographer. "Now, for this last one, just do whatever you want. Anything."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
The cover boy happily obliges, squats in closer to the lens and, um, raises two middle fingers. Flash, some laughter all around, and that's a wrap.
Meet John Cena, the ripped wrestling star, coming to a theater near you in this weekend's action-packed movie "The Marine."
"I've always been a ham," says Cena, later recalling another photo once taken of him. He was about 5, attending his brother's grade-school play, and before the show began, he ran up onstage to tell the audience he was Superman. And then he dived, and then he dropped.
"Steel chairs below," he remembers. "My parents still have the picture of me, peeking up, with a smile on my face and two huge black eyes, all because I wanted to be Superman in front of everybody ... I've always wanted to entertain."
Cena, now 29, is a WWE television fixture and, at press time, the reigning champ.
He raps, too. His wrestling popularity was built on his ability to freestyle on opponents before matches, psyching them out, a talent he later translated into a hit rap album.
And now Cena acts: In "The Marine," a rubber-burning, pistol-popping, men-flying-through-windows action flick, he plays an honorably discharged Marine in hot pursuit of his kidnapped wife and the men who took her.
Wrestler-turned-rapper-turned-actor. Uh-huh. Cena has seen the eyes roll -- and he makes no apologies. Growing up in the small town of West Newbury, Mass., he loved wrestling -- watched it on TV every weekend with his father and four brothers. Beginning at age 13, he loved rap, too, and its "nature of rebellion," he says, "the do-what-everybody-else-isn't-doing, do-it-loud-and-be-proud-of-it" message.
But in his small, mostly white town, these likes led to trouble. "I got beat up, picked on, got called every name in the freakin' book," Cena remembers. "At the same time, I never once said, 'OK, I'm going with the herd now.' "
Instead, he went to the gym, and by 15, he had pumped enough iron to where nobody messed with John Cena. Nobody made fun of his Fat Boys rap album, his baggy pants, his high-top fade. He watched what he wanted, listened to what he wanted, did what he wanted.
Going from the one-take wrestling routine to the more scripted, multi-take ritual of making a movie was a humbling experience. "I had to tell everybody I was working with, 'Listen, this is my first time out ... Straight up, if it's bad, tell me it's bad,' " he says.
With much help and many takes, "I think I got the hang of it," Cena says. But don't think he's ready to leave the mat, ŕ la The Rock. "Whatever opportunity comes around," he says, "I'm gonna take it by the horns. But I'm not using wrestling as a springboard to get me somewhere else. My home is in that ring."
Exclusive! John Cena's USA WEEKEND Rap
Cena's rise to WWE wrestling stardom came on the shoulders of his ability to freestyle. So, at the end of our interview at a Manhattan gym, we put him up to the challenge. Here's what he delivered:
This is John Cena, WWE, bear witness
"Flex" magazine, cover, Mr. Fitness
Eat your protein bars and drink your shakes up
I'm gettin' money, 'bout to get the cake up
Fatigue hat, camo' to the background
Comin' up, I'm Raw, but I still SmackDown,
Your face got the bass killin' in the beat
This is a cappella, still my name's spillin' in the street
Yeah, that's right, this is John Cena and we leakin'
Read the publication USA WEEKEND
Source: USA Weekend