John Cena on how he landed role in Barbie after initial rejection

John Cena is set to appear in the upcoming Greta Gerwig film Barbie. However, the former pro wrestler had initially planned to play a character in the film and auditioned for it but he was rejected by the makers. However, he was hired once again and will now feature in the upcoming film.

Cena appeared on The Today Show and said that he had been trying to land a role in Barbie when he ran into Margot Robbie. Cena revealed that Fast X and Barbie were being shot across the street from each other. When he accidentally ran into The Wolf of Wall Street star, he was offered a role in Barbie by her. Cena then said that he’d been trying to land the role, and as Robbie was taking a lot of decisions for the film. Cena said he offered to “do whatever you need”. 

“It was a happy accident,” said John Cena. “I haven’t worked with Margot before. We literally randomly ran into each other as friends. Fast X was filming across the street from Barbie. And (she asked), ‘Why don’t you do Barbie? I said, ‘I’ve been trying!’ And Margot makes a lot of the decisions for that and I said, ‘Well, I’ll do whatever you need,’” he concluded. Eventually, John Cena revealed that he was approached for the role of a merman, to which he agreed. 

John Cena and Margot Robbie in DC Universe

Margot Robbie made her DCU debut with Suicide Squad in 2016 as Harley Quinn. While the film, which featured Will Smith, Jared Leto and Cara Delevingne was a flop, Margot Robbie returned in the 2021 reboot film by James Gunn, The Suicide Squad. The film featured several stars such as Idris Elba, Pete Davidson and John Cena, and was a smash hit. Margot Robbie was also part of the 2020 film Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. John Cena, on the other hand, went on to star in the HBO Max spin-off Peacemaker, which was written and directed by James Gunn.