John Cena has had his fair share of bizarre roles, but few left him as flustered as his gym-obsessed character, Steven, in Trainwreck.
Before stealing scenes as Peacemaker or turning up as a merman next to Dua Lipa in Barbie, Cena played one of Amy Schumer’s unlucky-in-love exes in the 2015 rom-com, including a now-infamous sex scene that still makes him wince.
Speaking on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Cena explained why filming the awkward bedroom encounter was anything but glamorous.
He said, “Amy is an angel, she made the environment so comfortable. And then when I got the part, eventually they were like, ‘Yeah, it’s a sex scene.'”
“We want you to do elaborate and crazy stunt sex, and all those lines you had? We’re probably not going to use them. We’re just going to do this stunt sex scene.’”
The scene, which sees Steven trying and failing to master dirty talk before yelling out random Mandarin phrases, plays for laughs on screen.
But Cena admitted it was a different story behind the scenes.
He added, “There are so many people you need to make a movie.”
“There is nothing intimate about it. Nothing.”
“So it’s real embarrassing, and on top of that, to do a comedic sex scene when you’re making fun of yourself.”
Adding to the discomfort, Cena revealed he hadn’t even warned then-girlfriend Nikki Bella about the scene beforehand.
Speaking on Conan at the time, he said he had delayed telling her he might have to shoot “some graphic scenes” until it was too late.
“So I got it, and I couldn’t say no. I kind of walked in one day and was like, ‘Hey, I’m kind of just doing this.’ And that was the wrong approach,” Cena said.
He added, “She has such beautiful brown eyes and they glowed with red hellfire.”
“She has such a great smile but she turned into like the alien and the predator at once.”
Discussion