00:00I've always operated under the philosophy of good work gets you another chance."
00:04John Cena says his agency tried to talk him out of being in the Barbie movie.
00:08The actor portrayed a merman in a single scene of the Oscar-nominated film.
00:13Since the role was a minor one, Cena told Howard Stern his agency was worried that it
00:16would take other chances away from him for lead roles.
00:19They're just going on what they know.
00:22And what they know is, this entity, this commodity, gravitates towards these things.
00:30We should stay in this lane.
00:32Cena went on to say this on The Howard Stern Show.
00:34But I'm not a commodity, I'm a human being, and I operate under the construct of every
00:38opportunity is an opportunity.
00:40He recalled reading the script and trying his hardest to be in the movie, but he was in the
00:44middle of production on Fast 10 and couldn't find the time to have a larger part in Barbie.
00:49When he connected with Margot Robbie, who stars in and serves as a producer on the film,
00:53she was able to find a way for him to have a role in the project without it taking up
00:56too much of his time.
00:57Margot was like, we'll make you a merman, you'll be in it for half a day.
01:01Yeah, sure.
01:02But I think the perspective from an agency standpoint was, this is beneath you.
01:09However, he said he understood their perspective and also gave the agency credit for accepting
01:13his choice.
01:14Barbie, of course, went on to become the biggest movie of 2023 and picked up eight Oscar nominations,
01:26including one for Best Picture.
01:28For more on this story and the latest movie news, head to THR.com.
01:32This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
Comments