Superbad star almost quit acting

In 2009, Mattel announced that it would partner with Universal Pictures on a Barbie movie. The film stayed in a limbo state until Greta Gerwig stepped in and enlisted Margot Robbie as the star. Alongside Robbie was Superbad almnus Michael Cera as Allan.

In an interview with The Guardian, Cera revealed that he almost quit acting altogether as he began feeling paranoid after the nearly overnight success of Superbad and Juno. Before the hits rolled in, he was a relatively unknown actor, far from the celebrity status he got after the films released.

In a rather candid statement, he expressed how fame makes you look differently at yourself, making you feel uncomfortable in your own skin and overall “paranoid and weird.” This is especially the case as he was only 19 at the time, and wasn’t equipped to handle the “bad energies” like drunk people recognizing him on the street. They’d get enthusiastic and “toxic,” particularly the feeling that if they’re younger than them, they feel like they can grab them.

For a while, he didn’t want to increase his fame, so he started taking less commicial jobs in order not to gain any more fame than he already had as a cultural icon from Superbad. The thing that pulled him through, though, was Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, in which he played the title character.

In the end, he just wanted to be an actor who could simply enjoy his day-to-day life.

 I think I wanted to be a working actor who can enjoy my day-to-day life, and the world that I’ve created for myself. I think that was the overall thing I was trying to figure out.”