John Cena On "Cheating Death" In Fast 9, What It Was Like To Wear His Costume For Suicide Squad

As noted, John Cena is currently promoting the new "Dolittle" movie with Robert Downey Jr. and filming the "Suicide Squad" sequel with director James Gunn and several significant Hollywood names. That movie hits theaters on August 6, 2021. The former WWE Champion will also be joining the Fast & Furious family this summer when he stars in the "Fast & Furious 9" film.

Cena recently spoke with Collider about how his film career is taking off.

"Dude, it's a? I don't know how any of this is happening," Cena said. "I mean, I'm promoting a movie with Robert Downey Jr. I'm currently filming a movie, a superhero movie, with James Gunn."

Speaking with Collider, Cena praised "Guardians of the Galaxy" director Gunn for his work and recalled how he was blown away the first time he met Gunn. Cena walked into Gunn's office to see the walls covered with storyboards for the "Suicide Squad" sequel. Cena was in some of those storyboards, and was impressed with how Gunn already knew the movie. Cena compared Gunn's storytelling style with his career as a WWE Superstar.

"When I watch Guardians, immediately I'm connected to these people and I walk away with a certain takeaway from that movie," Cena said. "It has nothing to do with the preconceived notions of the comic book characters. I watched the movie for the movie and I enjoy it. I'm also a storyteller at heart. I got to go out there on a nightly basis in WWE and entertain Birmingham, Alabama and make them want to believe that they want to see a WWE title switch or that so-and-so hates so-and-so or whatever story we're trying to put together for that night. So I tip my cap to a great storyteller. James is a writer and a developer and he has great vision."

Cena is rumored to play Peacemaker in the "Suicide" sequel, but he won't confirm that. He did comment on what it was like putting his character's costume on for the first time.

"Awesome. Awesome. There's folklore about like, 'Yeah kid, wait till you do a superhero movie.' I guess I'm used to my costume being jean shorts and a tee shirt. So, it's a nice little change up that I didn't have to wear a ball cap and wristbands, but it was really cool," Cena said.

Regarding the "Fast" movie, which has already wrapped and will hit theaters on May 22, Cena would not reveal details on his character for that movie either, but he did admit that he's involved in at least one huge set piece. He also admitted that the Fast series' trademark action scenes are challenging to film, he stressed that the crew was completely professional, and made sure that he was never in any real danger.

"On film, I will cheat death but it's so safe," he said. "I had no fear in any of the processes. When I saw small renderings of what it's going to look like, I'm like, 'What the f–k?' It's awesome and I think by making the actors feel that sense of like, 'Hey man, we've set this up so you are going to be all right. Just go for it.' You get the best performance from your actors rather than somebody going, 'I don't know about this.'? It was unbelievably safe but also unbelievably creative."

Cena's "Fast 9" character should be confirmed at the end of this month when the first official trailer for the movie premieres.