الثقافة والترفيه

‘It’s OK to love somebody when they’re not perfect’: how John Cena conquered Hollywood – and why he refuses to abandon Vince McMahon

المصدر: Culture | The Guardian · نُشر

‘It’s OK to love somebody when they’re not perfect’: how John Cena conquered Hollywood – and why he refuses to abandon Vince McMahon
المصدر: Culture | The Guardian

By embracing the role of amiable lunk, the wrestler turned actor has become an unlikely, and very modern, leading man. But does his relationship with the WWE, and its controversial former owner, risk tarnishing his brand? I must admit, I was apprehensive about meeting John Cena.

By embracing the role of amiable lunk, the wrestler turned actor has become an unlikely, and very modern, leading man. But does his relationship with the WWE, and its controversial former owner, risk tarnishing his brand? I must admit, I was apprehensive about meeting John Cena.

The WWE wrestler turned actor has built an enviable Hollywood career playing idiots – capable idiots with real heart, but dimwits nevertheless. Still, Cena is obviously nobody’s fool; fools don’t rise from humble beginnings to become their generation’s answer to Hulk Hogan or The Rock. Would the Cena who appears on my computer screen be the real one?

Or something closer to the comic-book characters he embodies so well: guileless, silly and fond of a deliberate misunderstanding? It is immediately clear that this is no manchild. Perfectly punctual, he greets me with a lavish formality befitting a man who made his film debut as the title character in The Marine.

Within a minute he has volunteered, unprompted, that “a core value of mine is respect”. Cena, 49, is speaking to me on behalf of Matchbox: The Movie, a film extension of the Mattel toy car brand for Apple TV, and for 45 minutes he is generous, funny, complimentary and elusive without ever being evasive. It’s a genuinely radical thing for a man built like a chest freezer – having only recently retired from wrestling after 26 years – to be so relaxed about being ridiculous, and in an age of such joyless online strongmen as Trump, Musk and Andrew Tate, his buff charm is welcome.

Continue reading...

اقرأ المصدر الأصلي
‘It’s rational to fear the music industry’: Grouper’s Liz Harris on virality, streaming scammers and her ‘restorative’ dream-pop trio
الثقافة والترفيه

‘It’s rational to fear the music industry’: Grouper’s Liz Harris on virality, streaming scammers and her ‘restorative’ dream-pop trio

When a rarity blew up on TikTok, the solitary ambient artist had fraudsters trying to steal her royalties. It reinforced her DIY mentality – until reforming her band Helen reminded her of the beauty of collaboration In mid-September, I watched as Liz Harris soundchecked to 1,500

Culture | The Guardian ·

‘It’s a deep soul connection’: Erasure on how 40 years of friendship got them through grief – and why Vince Clarke has quit touring
الثقافة والترفيه

‘It’s a deep soul connection’: Erasure on how 40 years of friendship got them through grief – and why Vince Clarke has quit touring

Returning for a 20th album of sumptuous synthpop, Andy Bell and Clarke open up about difficult recent years, being happily uncool and battling resurgent homophobia Andy Bell is rabbiting away on multiple topics. There’s his farm in Mallorca, where he and his husband Stephen Moss

Culture | The Guardian ·