John Cena may be one of Hollywood’s biggest stars today, but there was a time when he was told his movie career was essentially over. Looking back, Cena admitted his first attempt at acting didn’t work out, forcing him to start from scratch before eventually becoming one of wrestling’s biggest crossover success stories.
Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Cena reflected on the release of The Marine in 2006 and explained that acting wasn’t his main priority at the time. Rather than trying to build a Hollywood career, he was completely focused on helping WWE grow and saw movies as just another way to promote the company.
“I was thoroughly engaged on the success of the business model, and my goal was to put more people in the arenas for WWE. Period. Like, ‘Hey man, you could have a whole other career out of this.’ Why would I want another career? I was in Pittsburgh last night, and it was dope. We’re doing Allentown tonight, and it’s sold out, and then New York, and it’s going to be awesome. Every night, a new challenge, a new crowd to figure out, a new dance partner to work with, a new piece of the world to see, a new adventure to have.”
That mindset showed in his work. Cena admitted he can look back at The Marine today and immediately tell that his heart wasn’t fully invested because he never approached acting with the same preparation and intensity that he brought to professional wrestling.
“In reflection, I could see that in the work. My heart was elsewhere, man. You see it. If you went back and watched The Marine today, you would see something that just wasn’t there. So when I watch it, I can tell we can do things that amaze people and still not have our heart in it.”
Cena said he simply assumed he could show up on set and figure everything out as he went along. Meanwhile, he was spending countless hours preparing for WWE, studying opponents, planning matches and obsessing over every detail of his wrestling career.
“My heart wasn’t in those early offerings because I didn’t put in the effort to get better. Right? Okay, I start shooting on Monday, so I’m not going to show up there until, like, the last second, and whatever. No, I’ll just do it. I’ll figure it all out. Whereas in wrestling, it’s like, who am I going to fight? I got to study all my opponents. What am I going to say? This is going to be crazy. I think we can do this move. Like, I didn’t go at it with that gusto. And then, after getting kind of run out of town in the movie business, I had to start over. You want to talk about luck? I got to start over. This is my second run.”
Eventually, things reached the point where Cena had a difficult conversation with his longtime representative, Dan. According to Cena, they both accepted that his first Hollywood run had failed, and he was told they simply weren’t going to be making movies anymore. Rather than dwelling on it, Cena said his biggest disappointment was feeling like he’d let people down after they invested so much in him.
“I have been riddled with failure in my life. It was just a thing of, like, okay, cross that off the list. Why did we miss? I felt bad that I couldn’t make the business model a success. This thing, like, someone had invested in me, and I had cost them money rather than returning their investment. That was what I felt the worst about.”
Fortunately, that wasn’t actually the end. Cena recalled Dan encouraging him to branch out into other forms of entertainment instead of giving up completely, leading to hosting opportunities and eventually a role parodying himself in the Fred movies.
“And to Dan’s credit, when I’m like, ‘Man, we’re never doing these again,’ he’s like, ‘No, we’re not. And we’re going to find another way. What do you enjoy doing? Like, we’ll read the news. We’ll host some shows. We’ll do competition reality. Let’s start moving forward.’ And then Brian Robbins was like, ‘Hey, I’m filming this movie with this YouTube kid. You want to parody yourself?’ And I’m like, ‘Yo, what?'”
Ironically, Cena says the Fred movies were the turning point. They were the first acting projects where he attacked the role with the same passion and preparation that had made him successful in WWE, and he still looks back on them fondly.
“I love them. And so many fans come up to me with this shit-eating grin on their face going, ‘Loved you in Fred.’ I’m like, ‘I loved those movies.’ I absolutely loved those movies because that was the first time that I approached a creative role that wasn’t wrestling with the passion I approach wrestling.”
Considering everything that’s happened since—with roles in Trainwreck, The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, Fast X, Matchbox and more—it’s hard to imagine Hollywood nearly gave up on Cena. But as he tells it, hearing that his movie career was over ended up being exactly the wake-up call he needed.
Were you surprised to learn John Cena was once told his Hollywood career was over? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
