When it comes to fighting forest fires, Sup and his crew are the best of the best—that is, until they’re put to the test. In Playing with Fire, John Cena’s Superintendent Jake Carson is a tough character who doesn’t like to let his guard down. His crew is equally resilient, astute and comedic to boot. When given their toughest test yet, the crew is tasked with watching over three kids who happen to have their own hurdles to overcome.
Playing with Fire is a hilarious and family-friendly comedy that boasts some of the funniest actors in the business, including Judy Greer as Dr. Amy Hicks, Keegan-Michael Key as Mark and John Leguziamo as Rodrigo. Together with the well rounded kid actors, the vulnerable Dennis Haysbert and star, John Cena, Playing with Fire has all the elements to make the whole family smile and crack up over these shenanigans.
Because of Playing with Fire’s family-centric storyline and target audience, Paramount Studios invited me, along with several fellow bloggers and their families to interview the cast and director Andy Fickman. Instead of us bloggers queuing up the questions, we took seats in the back rows and let the kids take the reigns. And what a treat that was!
We all know that Keegan-Michael Key is a riot and that John Cena is a talented entertainer, but I loved listening to the kids interact with the kid actors.
When asked if any past experiences helped with the role in Playing with Fire, Christian Convery shared how he learned how to act improved because of Keegan and everyone else on this show.
Of course, there were laughs when John Cena rebutted and said that Christian didn’t learn to act from him!
Speaking of acting, as a perpetual entertainer who is laying his stake in family friendly films, I appreciated when one of the kids asked John Cena why he transitioned from fighting to acting. Cena’s answer was so diplomatic and relatable for the kids to understand. The kid reporter shared that he was born in 2008 when John asked his birthday.
“By the time you were born I believe I had already won seven WWE championships and I had been wrestling full time for close to seven years. So, I’ve been wrestling for 17 years. And I’d love to keep doing it forever and ever. But you have like 200 matches a year and man, I’m–I just don’t know if I can have 200 matches a year anymore. So, I really enjoy storytelling and I enjoy entertaining audiences and having fun. Movies is a different way to do that.”
The overflowing soap suds scene in the firehouse was one of our absolute scenes from the film. And, not surprisingly, it attracted questions from the kids, including my own! Jack asked a rather introspective question: when the soap and the suds get everywhere the little boy owned up to his mistake. Have any of you owned up to like a very big mistake?
Keegan-Michael Key had the best answer that could totally double as a parenting reminder: “Owning up to mistakes, I mean, I feel like I do it every day. Feel like I’m owning up to some mistake every day. Cause it’s very good to say–to hold yourself accountable for your actions because then you can learn from them. And also, it helps wipe the slate clean every day if you–if you really do it. And, the only key to it really, I think, is that you just have to really be sincere.”
And to round out this fun press junket for Playing with Fire, my sweet Josh, despite his speech delay, was unfazed and asked the actors what their favorite part of the movie was.
The most memorable answer, of course, came from the littlest kid actor, Finley Rose, without hesitation said: When John Cena made pooping in the woods.”
Brave firefighters, angsty teens, crazy action scenes, silly comedy and poop: what more can a kid ask for in a movie!?
Playing with Fire is in theaters on November 8.
Full disclosure: I was invited by Paramount Studios to participate in this press junket. As always, all opinions on NKT are my own.
