After 11 years as the corny, nigh-invulnerable, Osama Bin Laden death-announcing, square-jawed and hairless faux Marine face of the WWE, champion John Cena is finally about to be a bad guy.
The problem is that he’s doing it for a movie, and the only babyfaces around to stop him are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Not that I wouldn’t want to see Cena put Tina Fey through a table with an Attitude Adjustment and bury Poehler under a bunch of prop stage equipment, I’m just saying.
Via A.V. Club, who have not updated their John Cena stock photos since like 2005:
Wrestler John Cena will play the villain in The Nest, the previously reported Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy that also stars Ike Barinholtz, John Leguizamo, Maya Rudolph, and James Brolin. The Cenation leader has long been a WWE hero, but here he’ll put on the black hat to antagonize Fey and Poehler’s estranged sisters, who throw one last party at their parents’ old house.
The Nest isn’t Cena’s first acting role, thankfully. He starred in 2006’s The Marine, 2009’s 12 Rounds, 2010’s Legendary, and even tried comedy as Fred’s dad in all three Fred movies. He’s also currently filming Trainwreck, the new Amy Schumer movie directed by Judd Apatow.
Cena should be great in that Apatow film. He’s used to being on 3-hour shows.
So far, Cena’s feature film roles haven’t asked him to stray too far away from his WWE character. To date he’s played a marine, a wrestling coach, a police officer, a different police officer, and an animated version of himself that hangs out with Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones. He was also YouTube celebrity Fred’s dad in the critically acclaimed Fred films. Note: Fred’s dad is just John Cena wearing a bunch of John Cena merchandise.
I really hope the movie ends with Cena’s character calmly addressing everyone and pointing out how some people at this party like him and some don’t, and how that’s okay.