John Cena has followed fellow former WWE superstars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Batista into Hollywood, and now he has his eyes set on an upcoming biopic of one of the most powerful men in WWE history. There is currently a biopic of WWE chairman Vince McMahon in the works and Cena told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview yesterday that he would love to play McMahon in the movie.
John Cena has a brand new movie in theaters this weekend called The Wall , a war film where he plays an Army sniper who is sidelined early in the movie. After that happens, another soldier, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson ( Kick-Ass ), is caught playing a dangerous game with an enemy Iraqi sniper.
According to Box Office Mojo , The Wall opened in just 541 theaters this weekend (compared to 3,200 for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword ) and should still rank in the Top 10 by the time the weekend is over with.
With John Cena starting to gain a bit of momentum in Hollywood, he is getting a chance to pick up bigger and better roles in mainstream movies. He has a sequel, Daddy’s Home 2, coming out this November and is supposed to have an increased role from the first movie’s appearance. He also is starring in a big budget comedy called The Pact alongside Leslie Mann about parents who set out to spoil their daughter’s pact to lose their virginity on prom night.
Could John Cena be looking to play Vince McMahon in the upcoming biopic of the Chairman of the WWE’s life? Cena said he would love to do it but he doesn’t think that the role would be right for him when everything is said and done.
“Man, I think it is a wonderful script from word one. But unfortunately, that would be something I’d love to do, but I feel maybe a different actor should do that movie, just because of how powerful the story is, and I would hate for the audience to feel that it is a WWE-produced product.”
That is likely where the problem lies. The Vince McMahon biopic is not a WWE Studios film and there are a lot of things in the original script that would never pass through the current PG world of the WWE.
In a recent interview with GV Wire , Linda McMahon said that she has heard “rumors” of the movie. However, McMahon said that she does not believe that the movie will ever see the light of day. There is also the fact that Vince McMahon has not blessed the movie, despite a script that impressed studios.
According to The Hollywood Reporter , TriStar Pictures plans on making the Vince McMahon movie and Andrew Lazar ( American Sniper ) will produce the movie based on a script by Craig A. Williams. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa ( This Is Us ) signed on to direct the movie.
While this is not a WWE Studios film, WWE Studios President Michael Luisi is signed on as a producer. Lazar is who officially secured the rights to McMahon’s life.
PWInsider released some information from the Vince McMahon movie script that was released and it sounds crazy. The script begins in the 1970s, years before Vince McMahon purchased the WWE from his father. He is already married at this time, so the movie won’t deal with his interesting childhood.
The movie shows Linda McMahon working as a waitress in a strip club and it shows how Vince McMahon was not impressed with how his father was running the WWF at the time. When Linda ends up pregnant with Shane, Vince tells her to quit and ends up beating up the manager of the strip club when he tries to stop Linda.
The script then deals with Vince McMahon buying the WWF from his dad and then building it into a powerhouse. The script also deals with the steroid trials in the ’90s and goes into detail on some of Vince McMahon’s infidelities in his marriage. There are also moments with Shane and Stephanie in school and dealing with insults concerning their father’s legal troubles.
With all the changes in the film, such as fictional situations where Vince McMahon discovered the Junkyard Dog, Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and Andre the Giant, the movie really moves away from real life and into a sensationalized version of Vince McMahon and the success of the WWE.
That makes the idea of John Cena, who is a WWE company man through and through, almost impossible to consider. However, the fact that Cena said the script is great might help make the Vince McMahon movie something WWE fans will want to seek out, if it ever gets made.
[Featured Image by WWE]