Michael Cera has garnered global attention with his Allen role in Greta Gerwig’s hit movie, Barbie. His role surely left the audience to love the character but this is far from what he is capable of. He has several notable roles in his portfolio with projects including Superbad, Juno (2007), and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
The early 2000s turned out to be a great luck for the talented actor as he gained wider prominence for portraying the role of a virgin teenager alongside Jonah Hill in Superbad. This is the very film that turned his life upside down which his co-star agreed to, revealing how both their lives were completely changed.
Jonah Hill’s Take on How Superbad Affected The Actors
In a 2010 Guardian interview, Jonah Hill talked about the extreme attention the movie actors received after 2007’s Superbad became an immensely successful project.
The Wolf of Wall Street actor shared,
“My life changed in a day. I remember the day before the movie came out, Michael Cera and I walked around my neighbourhood and nobody recognised us.”
However, soon after, the duo ended up becoming a household name all thanks to the coming-of-age comedy movie.
“One day later, we had to run to my apartment to escape the attention. There’s a kinship and a bond between us that’s pretty unique, because we went through the exact same thing at the exact same time.”
While this superstardom highly escalated their careers, it almost became the reason for Michael Cera to leave the acting industry for good.
Michael Cera Almost Quit Acting After Superbad Fame
Even the Barbie star has addressed his time after he gained recognition for his role in Superbad and Juno. While the projects turned out to be a golden ticket for giving a great push to his acting career, it heavily affected his personal life. It happened as the actor was unable to cope with the sudden fame he gained overnight.
The 35-year-old actor shared with Guardian,
“I didn’t know how to handle walking down the street,” Cera said. “Fame makes you very uncomfortable in your own skin, and makes you paranoid and weird. There were lots of great things about it, and I met a lot of amazing people, but there’s a lot of bad energies, too, ones that I was not equipped to handle.”
His overwhelming fame eventually came to a point when he almost thought of taking a permanent rest from his acting career.
“There was a point where I wanted to stop taking jobs that would make me more famous.”
He even rejected the offer the hosting for Saturday Night Live which highly disappointed his agents but he knew he was “not enjoying the level of heat.”
He continued,
“I really didn’t know if I was going to keep being an actor.”
Thankfully, he understood how to manage his fame over the years, thus giving his acting career another opportunity, leaving him to showcase his true potential.
Superbad is available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: Guardian
