The producers of a still-to-be-scripted Duke Nukem movie have confirmed that WWE superstar John Cena is attached to play the foul-mouthed superhero in the new film.
In an interview with Cinema Blend, producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller make no bones about Cena taking on the role.
Yeah, that's what we're working with now. He is. Yes. We don't have a script yet, so that is confirmed at this point but if he reads the script and he doesn't like the script I'm sure there's ways that he could pull out, but right now he's our guy.
The movie is still working on a script, but Form and Fuller are trying to hew close to Deadpool in terms of R-rated comedy action movies. Cena was rumored to be in contract negotiations for the movie in January and has seemingly found enough about the project to like to come in.
Cena is following in the tradition of a lot of WWE stars that make the transition to acting, with major parts in movies like Amy Schumer's Trainwreck and headlining the upcoming comedy Blockers.
[Source: Cinema Blend]
Our Take
It's hard to tell how this conforms to Cena's carefully cultivated image as a nice guy, but maybe that's exactly the point. I'm curious what the producers think Duke Nukem looks like in a modern context.