MANILA, Philippines - The upcoming high-adrenaline action film 12 Rounds from 20th Century Fox will have its screening on March 20 at the Gateway Cineplex.
Non-stop action comes to the big screen in 12 Rounds starring John Cena as Danny Fisher, the beleaguered cop who must complete 12 rounds of dangerous entrapment by an international criminal within the city of New Orleans. It follows Fisher a year after he apprehended a notorious criminal, Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) whose girlfriend was accidentally killed during the arrest. After escaping from prison, he’s out for revenge and took what Fisher has taken from him. Fisher soon learns that his girlfriend Molly (Ashley Scott) has been kidnapped and tries to get her back surviving all the 12 traps that Jackson carefully plotted.
Here’s a Q&A with Cena:
Initial reaction to the title was that it was 12 rounds of boxing, but that’s not the case.
Everyone gets that idea and they are pleasantly surprised when they find out it’s 12 challenges and not 12 rounds of boxing. I think people will be pleasantly surprised with the movie as well. I don’t know what people are expecting but I think this movie will exceed their expectations.
Can you describe your character in the movie?
Danny Fisher is just a regular cop, who makes a bit of a lucky bust and knows it. The whole everyman thing is easy, I’m just trying to be me, I like the fact that Danny struggles. He doesn’t come out of a phone booth and stop bullets.
How is this character different from the Marine?
The Marine was more like a terminator character, there is even a line in the movie, “this guys like the terminator.” He’s very impervious to bullets, indestructible, a guy who can’t be defeated. Danny Fisher really is a normal dude. There are moments in the movie were he experiences defeat, doubt, he doesn’t have faith in what he can do. It’s a very normal scenario for someone to go through as opposed to the Marine, who is very super human.
How does this movie help in your career as an actor?
It’s more than another role for me; this is my initiation into the rarified air of action movie star. Moreover, the film’s Danny Fisher is the type of action hero that I enjoyed watching, as a fan of the genre. The ‘80s was the era of the ‘everyman’ hero. And there hasn’t been that style of hero since then. Guys like Bruce Willis in Die Hard proved that an everyday person can be an action hero. If I’m even considered in that club, I’m definitely off to a great start.
12 Rounds opens March 25 in theaters nationwide.