Mark Millar, the comic book writer behind hit movies like Kick-Ass and Kingsman: The Secret Service, has big plans for the future. And if he gets his way, they’ll include professional WWE wrestler and actor, John Cena.
His upcoming movie, Superior, is definitely up Cena’s alley, after all. Based on the comic of the same name, Superior is about a 12-year-old boy with MS who makes a wish to became his favorite superhero, Superior (an analogue for Superman). His wish is granted, but with some unintended consequences.
Millar took to Twitter this week to single out Cena for the role (who needs casting calls when you have social media?) after watching him perform his comedic role in the Amy Schumer film, Trainwreck.
Speaking with ComicBook.com, Millar said this about the role:
“Superior‘s a project we’ve been developing for a little while and different actors have been on everyone’s radar. It’s a fun story, the conceit being Big meets Superman, so it needs to be someone who can pull off the comedy. Just as Kingsman: The Secret Service was for people who missed fun spy movies, Superior is for people who miss Christopher Reeve making little jokes and rescuing cats from trees.”
He also talked about why Cena would be such a perfect fit for the role:
“So it needed to be an actor who didn’t take himself too seriously and could do the funny moments as well as the poignant ones. It also needed to be someone a 12 year old boy would make a magic wish to be. Bryan Cranston and Robert DeNiro are amazing actors, for example, but they’re not going to be who a kid closes his eyes and wishes they were. A wrestler kind of is and some pals had suggested John Cena in the past, but I’d only seen him play a very, very small role in a comedy last year.
Of course, that all changed after Millar watched Trainwreck:
“I was texting people before the movie had even finished! He was in that picture with four top-of-their-game comedians and he stole the entire movie. He was so, so funny. His comic-timing is just impeccable and he looks very thoughtful too. He immediately went to the top of my own personal list in terms of who I’d be suggesting once the script comes in this week and the studio formally starts going out to actors at some point.”
No decisions have been made yet, of course, and Millar isn’t the only person with a say in Superior‘s casting (though he rightfully claims he holds plenty of weight with the casting directors and other decision-makers). But the project is definitely pushing through development quickly, so if Cena does get tapped for the role, we’ll hear about it pretty soon.
In the meantime, Millar is campaigning hard for Cena, citing plenty of reasons why the casting would be great:
“John physically looks perfect for the part, but that’s only 10% of why I think he works. It’s the heart of the character he seems to embody very well and I love the fact that he’s done more Make A Wish hospital visits than any other actor or athlete in America. I think he’s done around 500 of them now and that just seems incredibly in keeping with the character. This was one single tweet at the weekend, a thought out loud when I was watching a movie and it went everywhere, which is usually a sign that you’re onto something interesting.”
Source: ComicBook.com
