John Cena is a prominent action hero of the Hollywood industry and a legendary WWE wrestler. He is regarded as the greatest professional wrestler of all time and has won the highest number of championships. The actor made his acting debut with The Marine in 2006, however, he rose to stardom with remarkable acting in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. However, the film would have been quite different if Dave Bautista had played his role.
Reportedly, the role of Peacemaker was initially offered to the Guardians of the Galaxy star, however, he rejected it for another film. The role was given to John Cena, who made the character legendary.
John Cena was not the first choice for Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad
The film The Suicide Squad was written and directed by James Gunn. The director shared in an interview that he thought of casting Guardians star Dave Bautista as the homicidal character of Peacemaker. However, Bautista refused the offer as he wanted to star in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead.
Hence, James Gunn offered the role to another WWE star John Cena, who readily accepted it. On being asked about his opinion on being the second choice, he told Entertainment Weekly,
“I didn’t look at myself as a second choice; I just looked at it as a chance to do the best I could,”
In the film, Peacemaker gets into a fight with Elba’s weapons expert Bloodsport.
“There is a particular scene where my character and Peacemaker really battle it out. It becomes the biggest cinematic d—swinging competition you’ve ever seen.”
The Suicide Squad was released in 2021 under the production of Warner Bros. Pictures.
John Cena said yes to James Gunn without even knowing his character
In conversation with Esquire Middle East, the actor shared about his experience of being cast as the Peacemaker in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad,
“I operate under the construct of opportunity will find you and just be ready to answer the door when it does. It’s a difficult quest to seek opportunity. And this is no different. I’m not sure I was James’ first choice for Peacemaker. And I don’t care. Because I eventually was asked, and when asked you do the best you can deliver.”
After the success of the film, Gunn offered a spinoff series to John Cena, named Peacemaker. The actor shared that he was excited to be part of the project and said yes without even hearing the details of the project. John Cena recalled,
“James is like, ‘OK, so I did this thing. And would you like to—?’ And before he could even tell me what it was, I said, ‘yes!’ There are very few people I do that with because I really have to read the material. I’m not at a level where I can confidently make that commitment. I want to be able to read and know the tools that I have and what I can contribute. Working with James was such an experience that before he even said what he was doing I was interested.”
“James said, ‘You don’t even know what it is yet.’ I said, ‘Yeah no, I’m in,’ and James said, ‘Well, OK, we’re going to do Peacemaker for HBO Max’. And I was flattered.”
The film underperformed at the box office and grossed $168 million worldwide. The Suicide Squad is available for streaming on Max and TBS.
Source- Entertainment Weekly
