John Cena Gets Real on Zac Efron’s Wrestler Portrayal in 94%-Rated Action Drama
What does the real-life wrestler think of Efron’s performance in the ring?
Summary:
- John Cena called Zac Efron ’s performance in The Iron Claw, a biographical drama about wrestlers, released in 2023, “an excellent job”.
- The two actors starred in the new Prime comedy titled Ricky Stanicky.
Zac Efron has already proved to the whole world that he is not just a High School Musical sweet boy by his dramatic parts in The Greatest Showman (2017) and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile (2019).
His portrayal of Kevin Von Erich in the A24 sports biopic The Iron Claw, based on the tragic story of Von Erichs’ wrestling family, solidified public’s appreciation of his acting, as he was so convincing playing a lost and fearful kid, who is gradually losing all he has, stuck in the body of a giant fighter.
Efron’s performance was so brilliant that he got tons of praise not only from critics and fans, but also from real sportsmen, including his co-star John Cena, a professional wrestler and actor, with whom he played in the newly-released Prime’s comedy Ricky Stanicky.
Cena expressed his sincere admiration to his colleague in a recent interview:
“It was a real good treat to be able to go to the premiere of Iron Claw and see Zac do his thing - especially from a lens that I'm familiar with,” confessed the actor.
Efron, for his part, genuinely shared that Cena’s words meant “everything” to him, saying that it’s “pretty epic” when a real wrestler praises his embodiment of Von Erich’s both sports and private life, as not many people are involved in professional wrestling.
Despite the fact that the Academy stole a nomination for Efron’s role in the A24 sports drama, having ignored the movie in other categories as well, it marked a point when the actor has reached public recognition as a drama actor. Nevertheless, his role in Ricky Stanicky is far from being dramatic, serving a nice change of pace off serious movies.
The comedy features a trio of friends, which includes Efron’s character, who hire an impersonator (John Cena) to serve as Ricky Stanicky, their made-up scapegoat to forego life obligations and avoid getting in trouble, but their deceit turns against them.
It’ll be pretty curious to see Efron in an amusing film and wondering if it recalls the memories of his somewhat light-hearted characters from 17 Again or Dirty Grandpa.
Ricky Stanicky is now available on Prime Video.
Source: ET