Friendship, loyalty and second chances—a conversation with “Ricky Stanicky” stars John Cena and Zac Efron – The Cauldron
“Ricky Stanicky” premiered on Prime Video on March 7, 2024.
Zac Efron as Dean, left, and John Cena as Rod as Ricky Stanicky, right. Photo Credit: Amazon
Directed by Peter Farelly, the film follows three lifelong friends, Dean, Wes, and JT, who use “Ricky Stanicky,” a nonexistent member of their friend group the trio invented twenty years ago, as an alibi for anything from pranks to ditching their partners for a night on the town.
Things start to look bad for the friends when their partners become suspicious of Ricky’s constant absence, so Dean, played by Zac Efron, hires Rod, an x-rated celebrity impersonator working in Atlantic City played by John Cena, to pretend to be Ricky. Rod takes the role a little too seriously and his brilliant performance turns into a nightmare for the friend group whose lies are finally catching up to them.
The movie, which has all the makings of a typical raunchy adult comedy, also has heart, and Cena and Efron had plenty to say about it at a college roundtable interview that took place on Feb. 13.
Rod dresses up as Britney Spears for an x-rated impression. Photo Credit: Ben King/Amazon
“It takes a village“
Arguably one of the movie’s funniest sequences was filmed on the first day, in which Cena dressed as entertainers ranging from Billy Idol to Britney Spears. Cena, however, doesn’t take full credit for his hilarious impressions.
“It takes a village,” Cena added. “Our costume department, makeup department, hair department—without that effort from them, the impressions are just me trying my best to contort my face.”
According to Efron, the sequence of x-rated celebrity impressions was one of the hardest scenes to film even though his character wasn’t even on-camera.
“It was the first day of filming,” Efron said. “We were all behind the camera just losing it.”
John Cena as Rod as Billy Idol. Photo Credit: Ben King/Amazon
Cena didn’t initially expect to do all the impersonations he did for the film and, even though it is a comedy, he made it a point to do “justice” to every celebrity he impersonated. He said none of it would’ve been possible had it not been for the crew and his costars giving it their all.
“From Peter, to the writers, to the team, my costars—it looks like I’m giving 110% because everybody around me is doing the same,” Cena said. “It was cool to get the legendary Billy Idol lip and eyebrow correct—thankfully, I didn’t have to do the dance number from ‘Baby, One More Time,’ but I did rock the schoolgirl outfit.”
Costume designer Katherine Milne outdid herself with Rod’s looks and, while the schoolgirl outfit was iconic, another piece of Rod’s wardrobe was a favorite among the cast.
When Rod meets Dean, JT and Wes at an airport, he’s wearing a black shirt with the phrase “I don’t trust soup” written on it.
“Pete [Peter Farelly] wears that shirt,” Cena said. “It was taken from his wardrobe.”
Wes (Jermaine Fowler), Dean (Zac Efron), and JT (Andrew Santino). Photo Credit: Ben King/Amazon
Creative choices
Cena and Efron both had moments in “Ricky Stanicky” that weren’t necessarily written in the script. Rod, however pure his intentions may be, gets to a point where he puts both Dean’s career and personal life at risk. This leads to an intense scene between the two and, as Cena explains, the way it played out was determined by himself and Efron.
“There’s a little bit of friction between the two of us,” Cena said, speaking to the tension between frustrated Dean and meddling Rod that grows throughout the movie. “A decision we both made was when that friction comes to a boiling point, instead of a massive litany of choreographed stunts, we wanted each person to reflect how they would genuinely be in a fight.”
Before the fight—if you can even call it a fight— there’s a scene towards the last leg of the movie in the casino where Rod initially meets Dean that Efron said he wanted to “make it a point” to include.
In the scene, Dean’s friends bluntly ask Rod to leave them alone. Dean eventually follows Rod and has a nice moment with him, not knowing, at the time, the problems Rod would eventually cause.
“There was the potential that the best friends could be rather harsh to Rod, or Ricky,” Efron said, “so I wanted to make sure that Dean had that moment where he reached out to him. That was important for me.”
Heartfelt moments aside, “Ricky Stanicky” is an adult comedy, and there’s much to be said about the comedic prowess of Cena and Efron.
Efron joked that Cena improvised a scene set in the airport where Rod, going through intense alcohol withdrawals, soils himself.
“I blatantly had to piss myself and cover it up and say, ‘it’s not what you think, it’s just piss.’”
Cena added that, for him, it was the hardest scene to film without breaking character.
“That line, for some reason, I just couldn’t get around because I’m waiting for the payoff,” Cena said. “So when ‘it’s just piss,’ that was very funny and it was hard to keep a straight face.”
“It was hard for us,” Efron added, beaming, “because he totally improvised it.”
While Cena and Efron both got a kick out of the aforementioned scene, Cena later added that comedy is subjective and what one person finds funny, somebody else might not agree.
“Comedy is sensitive,” Cena said. “If you go ahead and watch Ricky Stanicky and it strikes a chord where you don’t laugh at all, you’re allowed to express your opinion and if we want to be better professionals, we should listen. We’ll promise we’ll try to do better next time, and I think everybody wins there.”
Friendship and second chances
“Ricky Stanicky” makes his debut at JT’s son’s bris. Photo Credit: Ben King/Amazon
“Ricky Stanicky” is, if nothing else, a film about second chances.
Cena, known today for his career as a professional wrestler and actor, didn’t plan on his career playing out the way it did. The first film he acted in, “The Marine,” premiered in 2006. Since then, Cena has starred in movies including comedy “Blockers,” superhero flick “The Suicide Squad” and action blockbuster “F9,” to name a few.
When asked if Rod’s “breakout role” as Ricky Stanicky resonated with him, Cena offered some advice for those who also might relate to the character.
“An important takeaway is that it takes time. I still have a lot to learn, I still see new wisdom every day, I still know I’m not perfect, I still see room for improvement and it takes 20 years of dedication, passion, obsession, and time and effort and mistakes to get going,” Cena said. “The character [Rod] is really close to me, but the takeaway I’d love you to have is if you’re loving what you do, mix it with a whole lot of perseverance and you never know what can happen.”
Reflecting on his career, Cena added that he’s not done yet, and doesn’t know what the future holds.
“My life is just a serendipitous bunch of happy accidents. I wasn’t supposed to be a wrestler, I wasn’t supposed to be here, I didn’t train my life for these things—and opportunity has fallen into my lap,” Cena said. “My film career started in 2006 and I’m still trying to get the snowball rolling downhill.”
Efron said the “friendship” and “loyalty” presented in the script is what really drew him to it.
“That’s what Pete Farely does so well,” Efron said. “He toes the line where these guys are doing it out of loyalty and love for each other.”
Cena added his very philosophical perspective.
“We are the sun of the five people we spend the most time with. I’ve gotten to a place where I am finally comfortable expressing love in my life and accepting it from others,” Cena said. “I have been very much fulfilled since that point arrived.”
Cena went on to talk about the importance of honesty and accountability, echoing the themes of “Ricky Stanicky.”
“If you operate with honesty, it establishes you to communicate and a lot of relationships and negotiations that fail are because of a lack of communication which could also be seen as a lack of honesty,” Cena added. “Accountability is also important. When you talk about friendship, honesty, and accountability, I’m listening to your radio station.”
When asked about what the pair thought about second chances, Cena was quick to respond.
“Nobody’s perfect,” he said. “Every beating heart, I believe, appreciates what a second chance is. If you show me a perfect who’s lived a perfect life, I’ll show you a liar. I just try not to be aloof to when second chances arise.”
Efron, nodding, added, “that was beautiful.”
You can watch Cena and Efron shine as comedic powerhouses in “Ricky Stanicky,” streaming exclusively on Prime Video.