Despite his outdated beliefs, John Cena’s titular character in Peacemaker has shown surprising flexibility in one particular area. According to director James Gunn, that aspect of the character was directly influenced by Cena’s improvisation rather than the script.
While most folks would agree that Christopher Smith’s abusive father has turned him into a callous and insensitive douche in more ways than one, the character is remarkably open and progressive when it comes to matters of sexuality, showing an inclination to get down with almost every consenting soul, regardless of their gender or orientation.
But it seems that Gunn hadn’t exactly planned that from the get-go when writing Peacemaker. Apparently, that was something that naturally developed through Cena’s improv. Though as he explains it in a recent interview with Empire Magazine (via /Film) this actually makes a lot of sense for Smith’s character.
“Peacemaker is an interesting character because he’s so f*-up in so many ways, and then in other ways, he is kind of weirdly forward-thinking,” the director says. “John does improv all the time, and he just turned Christopher Smith into this hyper-sexualized dude that is open to anything sexually. I was surprised by that. But I thought, ‘I guess it makes sense that this guy isn’t one-dimensional.'”
Gunn also explained how Smith is the “polar opposite” of Leota Adebayo (played by Danielle Brooks) which explains their potent chemistry with one another.
“She is his polar opposite in so many ways, politically. She’s a Black, gay woman. He’s a white, straight — Nah, he’s not straight [laughs] — white, whatever-he-is male. And yet they really like each other. They have a lot in common.”
From Cena’s perspective, this side of the character had to do with the fact that he was raised a certain way, but decided that he was more open-minded than that.
“We see in the show that he doesn’t have any issues with sexuality,” the actor explained. “As long as you’re not f***ing animals — that he’s not into. But besides that, he’s pretty open. And yet other things he’s completely close-minded on.”
With all of that in mind, there’s hope yet for Peacemaker to find redemption during tomorrow’s finale, which, according to the director, “will be crazy as sh*t.”
