Filmmaker Peter Farrelly wants to pair up John Cena and Zac Efron for his next feature film. Per Deadline, Farrelly, whose latest film The Greatest Beer Run Ever premieres 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 dubbed Ricky Stanicky with 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 in The Greatest Beer Run Ever.

Farrelly has teased that the film will be in the vein of similar comedies he’s worked on such as Kingpin and Dumb 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:

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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.

Peacemaker Inspired Peter Farrelly to Go After John Cena

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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 in The Suicide Squad and 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 for Ricky 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.

Ricky Stanicky does not have a set release date at this time. Production is planned to start in January 2023