John Cena signed on to Matchbox without reading a script.
The action film, officially titled “Matchbox The Movie” and directed by Sam Hargrave, premieres on Apple TV on Friday, Oct. 9. Cena stars alongside Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Teyonah Parris and Arturo Castro.
In an interview, Cena said he looks for three things in a project: great producers, a passionate director and a strong script. Matchbox only had two.
Matchbox is the only one recently that I’ve had two of the three, I had no script for this one.
He said producer Skydance asked him to trust the process.
Skydance promised me that, ‘Hey, we’re partnering with Apple on this one, you did Barbie and you saw how Mattel is with their IP, they’re not looking over your shoulder or forcing you to do anything.'
‘We haven’t given you the script yet because we don’t feel it’s in a right place, trust me, it’s going to be there.’ I rolled the dice given their track record and they delivered.
Hargrave’s reputation also helped.
I knew with Sam, there’s no lack of passion. That dude lives by pushing the envelope, that’s how he goes through life, pushing the envelope on life.
So, I just rolled the dice that the book would be great. I got to admit, I was skeptical.
Matchbox is based on the Mattel toy line. Cena also appeared in Mattel’s Barbie in 2023. He retired from in-ring competition in December 2025.
