STACK November Issue 68

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DVD&BD FEATURE
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WWE star John Cena relished the chance to send up his macho image as Amy Schumer’s
dim-witted boyfriend in Judd Apatow’s latest comedy smash TRAINWRECK.
How did Trainwreck come
about for you?
JOHN CENA: I guess the
natural process, the evolution
of getting a part: they cast
for a bigger guy to do some
overly physical stuff in the
movie and I auditioned. I had a
good audition with Amy. It was very informal,
very ad-lib. I had one more audition and then a
table read and they decided that the kid stays in
the picture!
How much of the character was in the
script?Was he as well defined as he was in
the movie, or was there things you added as
you were developing him?
Hats off to Judd and Amy for letting me have
my own fun with who the character was. It
was literally just written as a big guy and he's
with this girl who doesn't believe in love and
monogamy. Typical big guy things happen that
turn her off. The sex is overly physical. He's
always talking about working out. But in the
original script there was that line in the sex
scene where Steven describes to Amy about
what happened when they first met and he
says, “when I saw you first, the reason you
were so attractive is that from behind you
looked like a dude”. That was a throwaway joke,
but I thought, man, if that's what gets this guy
to the mountaintop, maybe he's not sure if he's
straight, if he's gay and what that struggle is
like. And they really let me run with that. It was
just from that one little joke that made for some
awkward, funny moments.
How was it working with Amy; what scene
did you shoot first?
The first thing we shot actually didn't make
the movie. It was a scene in Central Park
where I see Amy after we've broken up. It was
awesome, because there were a lot of people
around in the park watching us, so it really took
the edge off. We just went with it to see what
happens. It really helped a lot to know that I can
let my guard down and go for it.
Tell us about shooting the sex scene – it
must've been nice not to have to have
it be really sexy on screen?
I think that truly
made it a little less
uncomfortable. But
being almost naked
in front of all the
camera ops and
the focus pullers
and the lighting guys and the assistants and
props guys, it's not intimate at all. It’s at times
uncomfortable, but it was necessary. I think it
made the movie really fun. It was a happening!
But it ended up being extremely funny and
I thank Amy and Judd for making it really
comfortable.
You talked about the park scene, which isn't
in the final cut. Is there anything else that
didn't make it we might see on the DVD?
A whole other movie is lurking out there
somewhere! And that's not just with me. I think
that's with all the cast members, because of
the way Judd shoots. I think the DVD release of
this movie is going to be something special.
What has spurred your shift towards comedy
after several action films?
I think the action stuff was a natural
correlation – you see a big guy throwing around
big guys on television, you naturally think he
can do that on the big screen. I like doing that
on TV in the WWE ring. But I want to try and be
selective now with film opportunities. I want
to show a bit of a different side and being able
to laugh at yourself is extremely important. I
also want to be able to align myself with good
films, good people and poke fun at
myself. I just want to have
a good time while doing
good projects, which
is more of what I'm
looking for.
QUEER EYE FOR THE
STRAIGHT GUY
Hats off to Judd and Amy for
letting me have my own fun
with who the character is