Big-budget adaptations of video games from the ’80s and ’90s starring pro wrestlers seem very in right now. The Rock will be battling genetically modified lizards and gorillas in Rampage, coming to theaters very soon. And of course, the Rock also starred in the Doom movie a few years ago, so now it’s seemingly time to once again shift to the lesser, more controversial stars of the early first-person shooter era, like Duke Nukem.
The Hollywood Reporter got the scoop that John Cena is in talks with Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes to play Mr. Nukem himself in the alien-killer’s move to the silver screen.
Currently, there’s no director for the upcoming film, and writers are being pinged to start working on their version of a character who was the embodiment of every action hero trope of yesteryear. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero, but with way more references to Ash from Evil Dead. And sexist jokes. And references to balls.
Where Duke Nukem’s brash, blatantly politically-incorrect character fits in the current political climate is up in the air. Nukem’s controversial quips made headlines decades ago, and you have to wonder how much of the character will change for the big-screen, if at all. The cigar-chomping, buzz-cutted tough guy loves his one-liners about aborting alien babies and playing with himself, after all.
The heel turn for John Cena continues to only be happening on the silver screen. Wait … Duke Nukem is a heel, right?
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
