WWE superstar and former multi-time world champion The Miz recently spoke with Comicbook.com about a wide range of topics, which included the A-Lister giving his thoughts about the rebooted Mortal Kombat franchise and how he nearly scored the role of Johnny Cage. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How he’s always loved the Johnny Cage character and was a big fan of the Mort Kombat reboot:
I’ll be honest, I really wanted to be Johnny Cage. When I saw the Mortal Kombat movie, I really liked it. I know there [some people that] critiqued it, I really enjoyed it. I loved it, I thought it was amazing. It brought me back to my childhood, I’ve always loved the character Johnny Cage and when he wasn’t in there, I was like ‘Oh, wow. I can’t believe they didn’t put Johnny Cage in there.’ Then at the end, [it was teased] that he was coming in part two.
Recalls reaching out to his agents as soon as his name was trending and telling them that he really wanted the part:
With my name… When it came out, it was a Friday and my name was trending with Johnny Cage and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ It wasn’t a bunch of people, it was my name and I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ I remember calling my agent and going, ‘Dude, I want this. I don’t know what I have to do. Call whoever you have to call, I want this bad.’
Despite not getting the role he is happy for Karl Urban and thinks he will do great:
I’ll even say I put out a campaign, I went out on every interview and every time someone asked me about this, I would say that I want to be Johnny Cage. I never got an audition, which is fine you know. Maybe they just didn’t see me as the character and then I heard Karl Urban got it and people were like [asking me] if I was mad or angry, and I never get mad or angry when someone else gets a part that I want. I am fully supportive of a person getting… I imagine they’re going to work as hard as I will work to make sure that character is honed in, locked in, and the character that the audience loves. Karl Urban, I’ve watched him on The Boys, I think he’s a terrific actor. I think he’s going to do an amazing job as Johnny Cage and you better believe I’m going to watch it. Am I heartbroken that I’m not going to be Johnny Cage? Yes, of course, but that’s the story of life, you take your bumps and bruises. This is Hollywood, this is acting. There’s one part, there’s millions of people that want that part and I didn’t get it. By the way, this happens all the time. So you take your lumps and someday, someway, somehow, I will start getting into the movies that I feel like I want to get into and start doing characters that I think are meaningful and that could make me into what Cena, Batista, & The Rock have all done.
Says his current goal is still to do the best he can in WWE:
My goal right now is to be the best WWE superstar that I can be, and I’ve been having a blast with this wave of new crop of youth that WWE has, and to be honest, our shows have all been sold out. WWE is so hot right now, Cody Rhodes has been doing an amazing job, and Seth Rollins as our two top baby faces. Whenever they come out, the crowd is electric. It reminds me of Austin and Rock back in the Attitude Era. You go to a WWE live event, it’s sold out. Every single time a person’s music hits, it’s like an interruption. It’s so much fun. I’m having a blast right now with that.
In a separate interview, The Miz named NBA superstar Draymond Green as someone he thinks could easily transition into the WWE. You can read his thoughts about that here.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)