FilmmakerPeter Farrellywants to pair upJohn Cenaand Zac Efron for his next feature film. PerDeadline, Farrelly, whose latest filmThe Greatest Beer Run Everpremieres at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this week, shed some light on the next project he has up his sleeve. He’s spent the past several years putting together plans to develop an R-rated comedy dubbedRicky Stanickywith the goal of starting production in early 2023. Farrelly says he’s currently in negotiations with Cena, who’d be playing the titular character, as well as Efron, who can also be seen inThe Greatest Beer Run Ever.
Farrelly has teased that the film will be in the vein of similar comedies he’s worked on such asKingpinandDumb and Dumber. While it will have enough vulgar content to warrant an R-rating, Farrelly also promises that the film comes with a solid moral with something to say, and that the movie isn’t solely relying on raunchy humor. As Farrelly told Deadline:
“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 Marywas 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.”
Farrelly clarifies that “Ricky Stanicky” is a name given to a fictional person by a group of married friends as someone whom they can blame their misbehavior on when making excuses to their wives. As Farrelly imagines, it would be interesting to see when the wives finally catch on and demand to meet this mysterious Ricky Stanicky, resulting in the husbands hiring an actor to play the part. The problem is he ends up playing the part a little too well.
“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.”
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Peacemaker Inspired Peter Farrelly to Go After John Cena
While John Cena was presented as a heroic do-gooder in his WWE career, the actor showed another side to him with his role as Peacemaker inThe Suicide Squadand its HBO Max spinoff series. Because the role also showed what Cena is truly capable of with comedy, it was a no-brainer for Farrelly to consider him forRicky Stanicky. Farrelly also explained how Cena’s real-life behavior makes him even more perfect for the role of Ricky Stanicky, someone who’s impossible to hate.
“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 he’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.”
Ricky Stanickydoes not have a set release date at this time. Production is planned to start in January 2023
