Black Widow
03-23-2009, 07:15 PM
To capitalize on the success of his wrestlers/sports entertainers, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon decided to create WWE Films in 2002, which later became WWE Studios.
WWE's top star John Cena is promoting 12 Rounds, his second film under the WWE Studios banner. The movie (20th Century Fox - PG-13) will be released nationwide Friday, March 27.
Consider this.
Pro wrestlers are television sports entertainers, learning a script each week which combines physicality and words. They perform stunts in the ring like stuntmen in action movies. 12 Rounds is an action movie.
Comedy, drama, suspense -- all in all -- wrestlers have to act, and act well to keep fans watching, which millions do each week.
''As a member of the WWE roster,'' Cena said, ``you're not only out there performing athletically, you're also filming episodic TV. Monday Night Raw just finished its [825th] consecutive episode. We're the longest running show on television, period.
``That being said, you just get used to being on TV every week. You get used to being in front of a camera every week. Granted, making movies is a slightly different process, but once you learn that business and become familiar with how a movie is made, it's essentially falling into the same routine.''
Some WWE shows are televised live, so the stars may have to improvise, making it an even greater challenge than making a movie. If you err a movie scene, you can do it again.
During WWE's Monday Night Raw, it's live, and you get one chance. It's remarkable the limited number of mistakes made by the wrestlers/sports entertainers with their moves and lines on Raw.
''I actually like having the stress of one chance to do what you do,'' Cena said. ``I certainly like the pressure of the live audience being there as well. I enjoy that about WWE. That makes it more special than anything else. At the same time, it's good to have the cut button in your back pocket for a movie.''
That Raw experience is transitional into other facets of Hollywood, i.e. moving making. WWE decided to forge into its own production of movies, using its sports entertainers as movie stars.
''There are so many similarities [between doing Raw on television and doing a movie],'' Cena said. ``People think it would be two different worlds. The only thing that is unbelievably different is every shot is a shot on screen for the movie. In WWE, we showcase the live audience so much that you really have to recognize them and entertain them as well -- very similar to doing Broadway Theater.
``In movies, there is no live audience, and everything is focused on you specifically. So, I guess it's a lot less projected. That's really the only difference between making a movie and filming episodic TV with Monday Night Raw.''
• WWE, the sports entertainment conglomerate, is known for developing stars (including Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Stacy Keibler) who can succeed on other levels of Hollywood.
Is Cena next?
''I'm going to be the first guy to work two full-time jobs,'' he said. ``I'm certainly not going to leave wrestling anytime soon, but I'm not going to do movies as a hobby. I really want to devote 100-percent effort into any project I get involved with.''
He spoke with Rock, Hogan and Ventura.
``They all kind of gave me the same advice, and it was very vague but very positive. Don't do anything too fast and always work hard. That was pretty much the cliff-notes from what they said to me.''
Cena, 31, also is gearing for his third action movie, which is in pre-production, under the WWE Studios label.
''If all goes well and it should,'' he said, ``we'll start rolling tape in June or July.''
Even though Cena is popular with the younger generation and females, he would play a villain in a movie.
''There's a right time to do everything,'' he said. 'Just like when Tom Cruise finally played an evil character; when Arnold Schwarzenegger did a kids' movie. I think people know when they go to the movies, they go to the movies. WWE is a little bit different and fickle about that. They want to see you be you all the time.
``As long as the project is good, I think our fans would understand they're going to see a good movie, and there would be no disconnect.''
• Some Q&A with Cena
• Has there been any discussion about you being the bad guy in WWE or movies?
``There has been some talk about playing the bad guy in movie roles, but it would have to be the right project. I wouldn't just be a bad guy for the sake of being a bad guy.''
• Like he did in his first movie, The Marine, the 6-1, 240-pound powerhouse performed his own stunts in 12 Rounds.
Filmed in New Orleans, Cena plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans cop struggling to save his kidnapped girlfriend (Ashley Scott) from a revenge-seeking criminal (Aidan Gillen).
• How do you all attract nonwrestling fans to the movie?
``First and foremost, there was put together an all-star team to direct and produce this movie with Mark Gordon, who's done Saving Private Ryan, Speed and a bunch of other films and Renny Harlan, the director of Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Driven, A Long Kiss Goodnight, Deep Blue Sea, his résumé is virtually endless. So, automatically, if you're a moviegoer, and you hear those two names, you realize, `OK, they've done some pretty good stuff. So maybe I just want to go see a pretty good movie.'
``The next step was to cut a great trailer which they've done. Not only showcased before Notorious and Taken, but now the 30 second TV spots are running and the minute spots are running. It's so action packed that you want to go see the movie.
``On all the artwork, my picture is certainly there, but a lot of the focus is very much split. You can come and see this guy in this movie, and with all the other stuff considered, you're going to see a great movie.''
• Did you ever imagine this type of success, when you were growing up?
``Are you kidding me? No way. That wasn't just as a kid. Everyone asks me that question all the time. That's as a grown man. I remember at 23, 24-years-old not really knowing what I was going to do with my life and then by accident finding my way into a wrestling school, and the rest is history.''
Cena started training to become a wrestler in 2000 at the Ultimate University, operated by Ultimate Pro Wrestling in California.
• Born in West Newbury, Mass., and currently residing in Tampa, Cena has the charisma, the look, the talk and the strength, resinating strongly with the young crowd.
To earn championships in the scripted world of pro wrestling/sports entertainment, you most likely have to be the Most Liked or the Most Hated.
Most liked by young fans and women, Cena has won the top title four times in WWE.
• Just how popular is Cena?
Cena's merchandise numbers for 2008 were the best of anyone in WWE history except Stone Cold Steve Austin during his peak years and Hulk Hogan in the 1980s.
Cena ranked number five in the Top 10 most wanted celebrities in 2008 for autographs, charitable donations, endorsements and media requests. Miley Cyrus was number one followed by the Jonas Brothers, Oprah Winfrey and Zac Efron.
Subway featured him in commercials with Jared. Gold's Gym hired Cena. Gillette signed star athletes including Derek Jeter, Reggie Bush, Tiger Woods and Cena to promote its razors.
• Cena is engaged to be married.
• Hardest working
Outside the ring, Cena also released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at No. 15 on the US Billboard 200 chart in 2005. He has made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Punk'd and Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.
Cena continues touring for WWE as well as promoting the release of 12 Rounds nationally. He will participate in Nickelodeon's 22nd Annual Kids' Choice Awards which airs 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28 from UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is the host.
• If you had to choose your favorite movie by a pro wrestler, other than yourself, it would be?
Cena answered: ``What I would say is the longest cinematic fight ever in They Live, Rowdy Roddy Piper.''
• WWE, a multidimensional sports entertainment company, has been in the movie-making business since 2002 (See No Evil with Kane, The Marine with Cena, The Condemned with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Behind Enemy Lines III with Mr. Kennedy). Behind Enemy Lines III passed go and went directly to DVD. In 1989, WWE also produced the film No Holds Barred, featuring Hulk Hogan.
Through the years, other WWE stars branched into the television and movie making field.
WWE wrestlers who ventured into Hollyworld: John Cena, Kane, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H (Blade: Trinity, Pacific Blue, The Drew Carey Show, Punk'd, MADtv, The Weakest Link, The Bernie Mac Show, Miller Lite: Man Laws, Saturday Night Live), Hulk Hogan (Hogan Knows Best, Rocky III, Mr. Nanny, Suburban Commando, Thunder in Paradise, The A-Team, Walker: Texas Ranger, American Gladiators, Saturday Night Live), Stone Cold Steve Austin (The Longest Yard, Nash Bridges, The Bernie Mac Show), BillGoldberg (The Longest Yard, Universal Soldier: The Return, Bullrun, Family Guy, Kim Possible, The Love Boat, Punk'd, Desperate Housewives, Pros vs. Joes, Automaniac, Arliss, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Professor Toru Tanaka (An Eye for an Eye, Missing in Action II: The Beginning, The Running Man, Black Rain, Darkman, Last Action Hero, Volunteers, The A-Team), Andre the Giant (The Princess Bride, The Six Million Dollar Man, Conan The Destroyer, B.J. and the Bear, The Greatest American Hero), Kevin Nash (The Longest Yard, Grandma's Boy, The Punisher, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Sabrina The Teenage Witch), George the Animal Steele (Ed Wood), Rowdy Roddy Piper (They Live, Back in Action, Walker: Texas Ranger, The Outer Limits, MADtv, Saturday Night Live), Bret Hart (Lonesome Dove, The Simpsons, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, MADtv), Terry Funk (Road House, Over The Top, Paradise Alley, Quantum Leap), Stacy Keibler (Dancing with the Stars), Randy Macho Man Savage (Spider-Man, Bolt, King of the Hill, Family Guy, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Dexter's Laboratory), Big Show (The Waterboy, The Weakest Link, MADtv, Saturday Night Live), Ox Baker (Escape from New York, The Big Brawl, The Price is Right), The Great Khali (The Longest Yard, Get Smart), Vladimir Kozlov (25th Hour), Mick Foley (Robot Wars, Anamorph, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Boy Meets World), Nathan Jones (Troy, The Condemned, First Strike, Fearless), Governor Jesse Ventura (Predator, The Running Man, Demolition Man, Ricochet, Batman & Robin, Major League 2, The X-Files) and pro wrestling's biggest Hollywood cross-over success story -- Davie's own Dwayne The Rock Johnson (The Scorpion King, The Rundown, Be Cool, The Game Plan, Gridiron Gang, Doom, Race to Witch Mountain, Get Smart, That '70s Show, Saturday Night Live).
• Cena is WWE's biggest star leading into the WrestleMania 25 silver anniversary pay-per-view -- the Super Bowl of pro wrestling/sports entertainment -- on Sunday, April 5 from Reliant Stadium in Houston.
The Miami Herald
WWE's top star John Cena is promoting 12 Rounds, his second film under the WWE Studios banner. The movie (20th Century Fox - PG-13) will be released nationwide Friday, March 27.
Consider this.
Pro wrestlers are television sports entertainers, learning a script each week which combines physicality and words. They perform stunts in the ring like stuntmen in action movies. 12 Rounds is an action movie.
Comedy, drama, suspense -- all in all -- wrestlers have to act, and act well to keep fans watching, which millions do each week.
''As a member of the WWE roster,'' Cena said, ``you're not only out there performing athletically, you're also filming episodic TV. Monday Night Raw just finished its [825th] consecutive episode. We're the longest running show on television, period.
``That being said, you just get used to being on TV every week. You get used to being in front of a camera every week. Granted, making movies is a slightly different process, but once you learn that business and become familiar with how a movie is made, it's essentially falling into the same routine.''
Some WWE shows are televised live, so the stars may have to improvise, making it an even greater challenge than making a movie. If you err a movie scene, you can do it again.
During WWE's Monday Night Raw, it's live, and you get one chance. It's remarkable the limited number of mistakes made by the wrestlers/sports entertainers with their moves and lines on Raw.
''I actually like having the stress of one chance to do what you do,'' Cena said. ``I certainly like the pressure of the live audience being there as well. I enjoy that about WWE. That makes it more special than anything else. At the same time, it's good to have the cut button in your back pocket for a movie.''
That Raw experience is transitional into other facets of Hollywood, i.e. moving making. WWE decided to forge into its own production of movies, using its sports entertainers as movie stars.
''There are so many similarities [between doing Raw on television and doing a movie],'' Cena said. ``People think it would be two different worlds. The only thing that is unbelievably different is every shot is a shot on screen for the movie. In WWE, we showcase the live audience so much that you really have to recognize them and entertain them as well -- very similar to doing Broadway Theater.
``In movies, there is no live audience, and everything is focused on you specifically. So, I guess it's a lot less projected. That's really the only difference between making a movie and filming episodic TV with Monday Night Raw.''
• WWE, the sports entertainment conglomerate, is known for developing stars (including Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Stacy Keibler) who can succeed on other levels of Hollywood.
Is Cena next?
''I'm going to be the first guy to work two full-time jobs,'' he said. ``I'm certainly not going to leave wrestling anytime soon, but I'm not going to do movies as a hobby. I really want to devote 100-percent effort into any project I get involved with.''
He spoke with Rock, Hogan and Ventura.
``They all kind of gave me the same advice, and it was very vague but very positive. Don't do anything too fast and always work hard. That was pretty much the cliff-notes from what they said to me.''
Cena, 31, also is gearing for his third action movie, which is in pre-production, under the WWE Studios label.
''If all goes well and it should,'' he said, ``we'll start rolling tape in June or July.''
Even though Cena is popular with the younger generation and females, he would play a villain in a movie.
''There's a right time to do everything,'' he said. 'Just like when Tom Cruise finally played an evil character; when Arnold Schwarzenegger did a kids' movie. I think people know when they go to the movies, they go to the movies. WWE is a little bit different and fickle about that. They want to see you be you all the time.
``As long as the project is good, I think our fans would understand they're going to see a good movie, and there would be no disconnect.''
• Some Q&A with Cena
• Has there been any discussion about you being the bad guy in WWE or movies?
``There has been some talk about playing the bad guy in movie roles, but it would have to be the right project. I wouldn't just be a bad guy for the sake of being a bad guy.''
• Like he did in his first movie, The Marine, the 6-1, 240-pound powerhouse performed his own stunts in 12 Rounds.
Filmed in New Orleans, Cena plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans cop struggling to save his kidnapped girlfriend (Ashley Scott) from a revenge-seeking criminal (Aidan Gillen).
• How do you all attract nonwrestling fans to the movie?
``First and foremost, there was put together an all-star team to direct and produce this movie with Mark Gordon, who's done Saving Private Ryan, Speed and a bunch of other films and Renny Harlan, the director of Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Driven, A Long Kiss Goodnight, Deep Blue Sea, his résumé is virtually endless. So, automatically, if you're a moviegoer, and you hear those two names, you realize, `OK, they've done some pretty good stuff. So maybe I just want to go see a pretty good movie.'
``The next step was to cut a great trailer which they've done. Not only showcased before Notorious and Taken, but now the 30 second TV spots are running and the minute spots are running. It's so action packed that you want to go see the movie.
``On all the artwork, my picture is certainly there, but a lot of the focus is very much split. You can come and see this guy in this movie, and with all the other stuff considered, you're going to see a great movie.''
• Did you ever imagine this type of success, when you were growing up?
``Are you kidding me? No way. That wasn't just as a kid. Everyone asks me that question all the time. That's as a grown man. I remember at 23, 24-years-old not really knowing what I was going to do with my life and then by accident finding my way into a wrestling school, and the rest is history.''
Cena started training to become a wrestler in 2000 at the Ultimate University, operated by Ultimate Pro Wrestling in California.
• Born in West Newbury, Mass., and currently residing in Tampa, Cena has the charisma, the look, the talk and the strength, resinating strongly with the young crowd.
To earn championships in the scripted world of pro wrestling/sports entertainment, you most likely have to be the Most Liked or the Most Hated.
Most liked by young fans and women, Cena has won the top title four times in WWE.
• Just how popular is Cena?
Cena's merchandise numbers for 2008 were the best of anyone in WWE history except Stone Cold Steve Austin during his peak years and Hulk Hogan in the 1980s.
Cena ranked number five in the Top 10 most wanted celebrities in 2008 for autographs, charitable donations, endorsements and media requests. Miley Cyrus was number one followed by the Jonas Brothers, Oprah Winfrey and Zac Efron.
Subway featured him in commercials with Jared. Gold's Gym hired Cena. Gillette signed star athletes including Derek Jeter, Reggie Bush, Tiger Woods and Cena to promote its razors.
• Cena is engaged to be married.
• Hardest working
Outside the ring, Cena also released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at No. 15 on the US Billboard 200 chart in 2005. He has made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Punk'd and Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.
Cena continues touring for WWE as well as promoting the release of 12 Rounds nationally. He will participate in Nickelodeon's 22nd Annual Kids' Choice Awards which airs 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28 from UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is the host.
• If you had to choose your favorite movie by a pro wrestler, other than yourself, it would be?
Cena answered: ``What I would say is the longest cinematic fight ever in They Live, Rowdy Roddy Piper.''
• WWE, a multidimensional sports entertainment company, has been in the movie-making business since 2002 (See No Evil with Kane, The Marine with Cena, The Condemned with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Behind Enemy Lines III with Mr. Kennedy). Behind Enemy Lines III passed go and went directly to DVD. In 1989, WWE also produced the film No Holds Barred, featuring Hulk Hogan.
Through the years, other WWE stars branched into the television and movie making field.
WWE wrestlers who ventured into Hollyworld: John Cena, Kane, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H (Blade: Trinity, Pacific Blue, The Drew Carey Show, Punk'd, MADtv, The Weakest Link, The Bernie Mac Show, Miller Lite: Man Laws, Saturday Night Live), Hulk Hogan (Hogan Knows Best, Rocky III, Mr. Nanny, Suburban Commando, Thunder in Paradise, The A-Team, Walker: Texas Ranger, American Gladiators, Saturday Night Live), Stone Cold Steve Austin (The Longest Yard, Nash Bridges, The Bernie Mac Show), BillGoldberg (The Longest Yard, Universal Soldier: The Return, Bullrun, Family Guy, Kim Possible, The Love Boat, Punk'd, Desperate Housewives, Pros vs. Joes, Automaniac, Arliss, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Professor Toru Tanaka (An Eye for an Eye, Missing in Action II: The Beginning, The Running Man, Black Rain, Darkman, Last Action Hero, Volunteers, The A-Team), Andre the Giant (The Princess Bride, The Six Million Dollar Man, Conan The Destroyer, B.J. and the Bear, The Greatest American Hero), Kevin Nash (The Longest Yard, Grandma's Boy, The Punisher, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Sabrina The Teenage Witch), George the Animal Steele (Ed Wood), Rowdy Roddy Piper (They Live, Back in Action, Walker: Texas Ranger, The Outer Limits, MADtv, Saturday Night Live), Bret Hart (Lonesome Dove, The Simpsons, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, MADtv), Terry Funk (Road House, Over The Top, Paradise Alley, Quantum Leap), Stacy Keibler (Dancing with the Stars), Randy Macho Man Savage (Spider-Man, Bolt, King of the Hill, Family Guy, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Dexter's Laboratory), Big Show (The Waterboy, The Weakest Link, MADtv, Saturday Night Live), Ox Baker (Escape from New York, The Big Brawl, The Price is Right), The Great Khali (The Longest Yard, Get Smart), Vladimir Kozlov (25th Hour), Mick Foley (Robot Wars, Anamorph, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Boy Meets World), Nathan Jones (Troy, The Condemned, First Strike, Fearless), Governor Jesse Ventura (Predator, The Running Man, Demolition Man, Ricochet, Batman & Robin, Major League 2, The X-Files) and pro wrestling's biggest Hollywood cross-over success story -- Davie's own Dwayne The Rock Johnson (The Scorpion King, The Rundown, Be Cool, The Game Plan, Gridiron Gang, Doom, Race to Witch Mountain, Get Smart, That '70s Show, Saturday Night Live).
• Cena is WWE's biggest star leading into the WrestleMania 25 silver anniversary pay-per-view -- the Super Bowl of pro wrestling/sports entertainment -- on Sunday, April 5 from Reliant Stadium in Houston.
The Miami Herald