John Cena and Awkwafina in “Jackpot!”
It is only fitting that John Cena’s latest film is called Jackpot! After all, it’s not every day you get the chance to work with comedic forces like Awkwafina and director Paul Feig on the same project.
That’s not to say, however, that Cena doesn’t have an impressive comedic resume of his own. Since his breakthrough in Train accident In 2015, the WWE superstar turned A-list actor played memorable roles in hit comedies Dad’s home and its sequel, Barbie And Ricky Stanickyand the DC series Peacemaker.
Jackpot! is set in 2030, when California – struggling with a severe financial crisis – gives its citizens the chance to become multi-billionaires by winning the state lottery. The lottery’s rules come with a catch, however, as anyone can claim the prize by legally killing the winner before sunset – as long as they don’t use a weapon.
The latest grand prize drawing comes shortly after Katie (Awkwafina) arrives in Los Angeles to revive her acting career after finding success as a child actress years earlier.
After accidentally getting her hands on the winning ticket, she hires Noel (Cena), an amateur lottery protection agent, to protect her from the bloodthirsty mob and get a piece of the winnings. In addition, Noel tries to protect Katie from fellow lottery protection agent Louis (Simi Liu), a former colleague with a dark past.
Paul Feig, John Cena and Simi Liu in “Jackpot!”
While Cena has long admired Feig’s comedy hits – including Bridesmaids, Tough girls And spy– he said he never tried to work with the director because Hollywood is like a lottery and all that matters is luck.
“I don’t necessarily look at it as, ‘Man, I have to work with this person because a lot of this is out of my control.’ But when I found out Paul was going to direct it, I was very excited,” Cena told me in a recent Zoom conversation. “It’s exactly his thing and he absolutely delivered.”
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Cena’s involvement in Jackpot! is that neither Feig nor Awkwafina – whose real name is Nora Lum – were involved in the film when he entered the project. As it turns out, Cena said he signed on to Jackpot! based on the originality of Rob Yescombe’s script, and he’s glad Feig and Awkwafina came along to improve it.
“The most important thing was the script,” Cena said. “It reads great, and yet it lacks a lot of the comedic genius that Paul or Nora brought, but it reads great on its own. It takes the magic of the movie business to get it green-lit, and a lot of it worked in our favor.”
Feig and Awkwafina are big fans of Cena’s “Peacemaker”
While Paul Feig has admired John Cena’s work for years, it was the actor’s title shot in Peacemaker This particularly impresses the director.
Feig told me in a Zoom conversation with Awkwafina that Cena’s performance as the title character in James Gunn’s DC action comedy series had the same qualities as a famous action star he played in spy.
“He’s so funny no matter what he does,” Feig enthused. “I like all his stuff, but in PeacemakerI found it so funny. I look for people who I know will get the joke. It’s like when I saw Jason Statham in the crank Movies. I thought, ‘He knows this is ridiculous’ and (like Jason, John) he has a great sense of humor.”
Awkwafina added that she loved Cena in Peacemakerr too, and her admiration for his comedy work stems from Train accident.
Awkwafina and John Cena in “Peacemaker”.
“I am a big Peacemaker Fan and I watched the show intensively, and I also liked him in Train accident where you can see that, as Paul says, he gets the joke,” Awkwafina said. “He’s so cool.”
“And fearless,” Feig added.
Speaking of Train accidentCena said there was no particular project that marked a major turning point for him in his career as a comedian, but noted that his work with Schumer and Apatow helped him build his foundation as a comedy actor.
“It was absolutely the first environment where they treated failure as OK and acceptable and didn’t judge me for trying,” Cena recalled. “They encouraged me to improvise and allowed me to be a really integral part of a really great movie.”
Age rating R, Jackpot! will be released on Prime Video on Thursday.
