John Cena on acting with Dua Lipa on Argylle: ‘She was vulnerable enough to admit she was nervous’

John Cena has discussed the bond that he and Dua Lipa created on the set of Argylle, ahead of the film’s release.

The upcoming action/thriller stars Lipa in her film debut, who plays a fictionalised spy dreamt up by a famous thriller author who gets involved in an actual, dangerous mystery, whilst working on her next bestseller. 

The singer previously told Rolling Stone that she considers him to be her “emotional support actor,” with the professional wrestler acknowledging that the film was actually shot before the Barbie movie, and was, therefore, her first acting gig. 

“My takeaway from that comment, which I’m very grateful for, is we shot this before Barbie, so this was her first chance to be on-screen. She was vulnerable enough to admit she was nervous,” he told PEOPLE. 

“Meanwhile, I’m in front of Dua Lipa, Matthew Vaughn, and Henry Cavill, and I’m going, ‘You’re not alone! I’m nervous as well.’ So we began to share that,” Cena continued.

“We’re both touring live performers, so we had some conversations about that and life on the road, and it just kind of spawned from there,” he added.

Of course, the pair also went on to star as Mermaid Barbie and Merman Ken in the award-winning comedy/fantasy. The upcoming movie, however, also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ariana DeBose, Haruka Ohshima and Sofia Boutella.

The synopsis reads: “Elly Conway (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), an introverted spy novelist who seldom leaves her home, is drawn into the real world of espionage when the plots of her books get a little too close to the activities of a sinister underground syndicate. 

“When Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a spy, shows up to save her (he says) from being kidnapped or killed (or both), Elly and her beloved cat Alfie are plunged into a covert world where nothing, and no one, is what it seems.”

Argylle is out in UK cinemas on 2 February 2024.

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