John Cena, Zac Efron In Talks For New Peter Farrelly Comedy

John Cena is set to join Zac Efron in the first R-rated comedy from Peter Farrelly in quite some time. Farrelly, who is known for the comedies he did with brother Bobby like Kingpin, There’s Something About Mary, and Dumb & Dumber, told Deadline that he is in talks with Cena and Efron for his film Ricky Stanicky, the title of which is a name within the film created by a group of married friends in order to have someone to blame when they make excuses to their wives.

Farrelly noted that the deals are not complete, but that should they complete then production will begin in January. The film is one that Farrelly has been working on for some time. You can see some highlights from the interview about the film below:

On his negotiations for the film: “I’m shooting it in January, and we’re in negotiations with John Cena and Zac Efron. They’re not locked in. I want to make that clear. Ricky Stanicky, I think, is just a hilarious movie, and it’s a great message, not just a bunch of hard-R laughs. There’s Something About Mary ultimately is about true love. There were many times when Ted, the Ben Stiller character, would have just backed off, except he was in love. He gets these bogus reports that Mary has got all sorts of issues; she’s got too many kids by too many guys; she’s on welfare. He still wants to find her because he loves her, and that’s the ultimate message. The message of Ricky Stanicky is somewhat different, but I think it will resonate.”

On the film’s plot: “What happens is the wives finally say, ‘Hey, wait a second — how come we never met Stanicky? He wasn’t at our wedding.’ Well, he was building houses in Africa. Well, he wasn’t at this or that. Bring him here, or don’t come home. So they hire a guy to come in for a day. They create a bible for the guy, and they pay him a thousand bucks to come and be Ricky Stanicky. He pulls it off with flying colors to the point where everybody loves him. And then the guys can’t get rid of him.

“Cena is Ricky Stanicky, and if you’ve seen him in Peacemaker, you see what he can do in a comedy. He’s hysterical in a show that really pushes it. I never knew much about John Cena until I saw that, and I was like, ‘There’s Stanicky right there.’ That guy, I love him. His timing is impeccable, and it’s surprising for a guy his size. He’s comes across like a little guy. His sense of humor is more self-deprecating than big guys usually have. I learned this is a guy in the Guinness Book of Records for Make-a-Wish Foundation grants. He’s done like 500 of them, and that’s what he does like every weekend. He’s a sweet guy, big hearted, and that’s what this Stanicky has to be. He’s got to be this guy who’s a fraud, but you can’t not love him, and it becomes a problem for our guys as he starts surpassing them in many ways.”