Following in the footsteps of co-star Will Forte, John Cena offers his take on Warner Bros’ decision to delete Coyote Vs Acme as a tax write-off.
It’s been a few months since Will Forte penned an open letter, praising the work everybody put into Coyote Vs Acme, the latest (completed) film to be deleted at the behest of Warner Bros boss, David Zaslav. At this point, Zaslav is ‘disappearing’ films with the alarming regularity that an average crime boss makes witnesses and informants vanish, while those whose careers never benefit from their work actually being seen by the public are left to deal with the fallout of what could have been.
Now John Cena, the film’s other lead star has publicly offered his take. Given that months have passed and the disappointment has hopefully lessened somewhat, the actor’s take is fairly diplomatic. As he does the press circuit for the Paul Feig comedy, Jackpot, Cena had this to say to The Wrap about the deletion of a film which impressed everybody that got to see it, yet was still scrapped by the studio.
“There’s a lot there,” says Cena. “And everyone’s perspective is different. We don’t own the film. That’s the tough part about this business, you do have a sense of ownership because you invest heart and soul. And [director] Dave Green and everybody involved, we made what we thought was a good movie.
“I would have liked to seen it given a chance. But I’m just one person. And if it was shelved, I would have to think that it was shelved for the right reasons and it was a good business decision. I think I would have tremendous regret and shame if I look back on the legacy of the movie and it was shelved for reasons other than that.
“So I have to believe in the process. And I love the movie, my heart and soul is in there, but it’s somebody else’s project to do what they want with and they’ve chosen accordingly.”
Read more: Will Forte laments the loss of Coyote Vs Acme | “It’s incredible”
Like we said: diplomatic. But beyond choosing his words carefully, you can also understand Cena’s point. If he chooses not to see it purely as a ‘business decision’ then any creative might begin to question their own input into the project and wonder if they could have somehow done things differently and ‘saved’ the film. We can imagine those kinds of questions might keep you up at night if – as Cena says – “my heart and soul is in there.” As such, it’s probably best to try and distance yourself from that decision-making process.
It’s not pleasant reading stories like this and frankly, we’ve seen too many of them already given that this isn’t the first completed film that Warner Bros has simply scrapped to potentially save cash – while its boss takes a huge pay rise, we might add. Still, at least Cena seems to have found a way to reconcile himself with the film’s sorry end, at least when it comes to public discussions of Coyote Vs Acme’s fate.
