John Cena is a big kid, but like a really big one with lots of muscles. And he’s starring in a movie perfect for kids of all ages. The WWE superstar told Deco about the new animated movie, “Ferdinand.”
John Cena (as Ferdinand): “It seems like from the moment you are born, people think they got you all figured it out based on how you look, how you talk, where you are from.”
You know the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
John Cena (as Ferdinand): “I’m a little bit more complex. I’m Ferdinand.”
The story of Ferdinand the bull proves the saying isn’t “bull-ownie.”
John Cena (as Ferdinand): “I am not a fighting bull. Can you guys help me out?”
John Cena voices the gentle giant who would rather stop and smell the flowers than fight a matador.
John Cena: “What you see isn’t exactly what you get. Ferdinand is huge, and he does use his strength when you see the movie. He just uses it for different things other than fighting.”
But when a bee sting brings out the beast in the bull, instead of being forced to fight, he tries to get back to the people — and the flowers — he loves.
John Cena: “There is this giant bull who just wants to be himself, and everyone is like, ‘No, you gotta go this way, you gotta go this way,’ and the story is about, ‘Listen, I am going this way, and you guys should learn to be you as well.'”
It seems casting the role wasn’t that hard.
We all know Cena as a wrestling star, but, like Ferdinand, the big guy is a softy.
John Cena: “Because of how I am known through out the world as this WWE superstar, people think that is all they get. There is some more to me than that.”
The story is based on a classic children’s book.
Gina Rodriguez voice’s Una the hedgehog, one of Ferdinand’s friends.
And she’s very familiar with Ferdinand.
Gina Rodriguez: “This was one of my favorites. That is why I jumped on the movie for sure, for real. My mom used to read it to me all the time.”
John’s favorite book as a kid is kind of up in the air.
Out in Los Angeles, he told us this.
John Cena: “My favorite children’s story was probably something in the world of Dr. Seuss.”
But when we talked to him last week, here in South Florida, he said —
John Cena: “I was asked a question by a young man about what my favorite children’s book was. It was ‘Cars and Trucks and Things That Go.'”
We just figure “Ferdinand” is one of his favorites now.
No bull.
“Ferdinand” stampedes into theaters, Friday.
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