If John Cena had listened to his manager, he may not have been in Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie.
The actor portrayed a mermaid in a single scene of the Oscar-nominated film. The role was minor, compared to some of the other major actors’ characters, and his manager was worried that would take other chances away from him.
“[The agency is] just going on what they know. And what they know is, ‘This entity, this commodity gravitates towards these things, we should stay in this lane,’” Cena said during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “But I’m not a commodity. I’m a human being, and I operate under the construct of every opportunity is an opportunity.”
He recalled reading the script and trying his hardest to be in it, but he was in the middle of production on Fast X and couldn’t find the time to have a larger part in Barbie. When he connected with Margot Robbie, who stars in and serves as a producer on the film, she was able to find a way for him to have a role in the project without taking up too much time.
“Margot was like, ‘We’ll make you a mermaid. You’ll be in it for half a day.’ Yeah, sure,” he said. “But I think the perspective from an agency standpoint was, ‘This is beneath you,’ which I get that. But also to the agency’s credit, immediately they acquiesced, and I was like, ‘No we’re going to do it,’ but all they can do is offer their guidance. They’re not ultimately making the choice.”
He continued, “Their guidance is, ‘Hey, truly, trickle-down economics from this might take you out of these lead leap slots.’ And I get all that. I’ve always operated under the philosophy of good work gets you another chance.”
Barbie went on to become the biggest movie of 2023 and picked up eight Oscars nominations, including best picture, supporting actress for America Ferrera, supporting actor for Ryan Gosling and adapted screenplay for Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach, among others.