John Cena tells E! News' Daily Pop why his journey to play the brother of Vin Diesel's character in F9 was a unique experience for him.
The 44-year-old WWE star explains he was initially told that Vin, who portrays Dominic Toretto in the popular Fast & Furious franchise, wanted to speak with him. But John had no idea he was being considered to play Dom's long-lost brother, Jacob Toretto.
"I wasn't just offered the role," John shares in an exclusive clip from the interview. "It was actually, 'Hey, Vin Diesel would like to talk to you,' and I had no idea what it was about. And I met Vin at his training center, which was staggering to say the least, and we just spoke. We spoke as two humans for a little under two hours. And then at the end, he took a small social media video."
John explains that, rather than Vin telling him what he would need to know before joining such a massive franchise, Vin was assessing his passion for what the projects represent.
"He was sizing up my character and interviewing the individual as to like, 'Hey, does he even like this stuff? Would he even be interested in something like this—like, genuinely interested?'" the Bumblebee star continues. "And then thereafter, I was offered a part, and I didn't know what I was doing, and then when I read the script, I was like, 'I'm Jacob Toretto? Wow.'"
For his part, Vin tells Daily Pop that he immediately picked up on John's "earnest eagerness" to join the franchise. Additionally, Vin explains that when he shared the footage to social media of himself spending time with John, he chose a caption that referenced his late co-star and dear friend, Paul Walker.
"I didn't give it much thought because if you go back to that day—and it's all on Instagram—you'll see what I captioned, which was, 'Thank you, Pablo,'" the Bloodshot performer continued, using his affectionate name for the actor who played Brian O'Conner. "Because I felt like, like always, Pablo came through and helped me with the casting of Jacob, and he became Jacob."
F9 hits theaters on Friday, June 25, and more coverage of the film will be featured on Daily Pop leading up to the release.
(E! and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)