Although a lot of people first learned about Michael Cera from when he played George Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, 2007 was a pivotal year for the actor, as he starred in both Superbad and Juno. Both movies performed critically and commercially well, and they arguably established him as a major name in Hollywood. More than a decade and a half after their release though, Cera has opened up about he nearly quit acting amid this success.
Superbad was released on August 13, 2007, just two months after Cera turned 19, and Juno followed on December 5. While these movies remain among that year’s most well-known cinematic offerings, the actor recalled to The Guardian that he had trouble dealing with his boosted profile in the aftermath of their releases, saying:
That was sort of overwhelming. I didn’t know how to handle walking down the street. Fame makes you very uncomfortable in your own skin, and makes you paranoid and weird. There were lots of great things about it, and I met a lot of amazing people, but there’s a lot of bad energies, too, ones that I was not equipped to handle. … Drunk people would be a classic example. You know, if people are drunk, and they recognise you, and they’re very enthusiastic, but it can be kind of toxic too. When you’re a kid, people also feel they can kind of grab you – they’re not that respectful of you or your physical space. … I didn’t know how to respectfully establish my own boundaries.
Michael Cera added that on the weekend Superbad came out, he went to a bar with some friends, which he described as a “mistake” because he had a “burning feeling the whole time” that everyone was “so aware” him. The Judd Apatow-directed teen comedy saw him and Jonah Hill playing two soon-to-graduate high school seniors trying to lose their virginity before going off to college, with the other notable actors including Emma Stone, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen (who also co-wrote the script) and Bill Hader. However, that was just the beginning of Cera having to grapple with increased fame and people out in the world not respecting his boundaries.
Between that and Juno, where her played the teen who impregnated Elliot Page’s title character, Cera started realizing that this level of fame wasn’t something that was appealing to him. He even debated about quitting acting or, to a lesser degree, not act in any more projects on the level of these movies. As Cera put it:
There was a point where I wanted to stop taking jobs that would make me more famous. I was kind of having a bit of a crisis … I was really not enjoying the level of heat.
What steered him away from such a drastic move was that he’d already agreed to star in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, so he needed to stay committed to it. Granted, while the Edgar Wright-helmed movie was a critical hit, it bombed at the box office, but it, along with a handful or smaller projects, was enough to get Cera through this difficult period. He wasn’t interested in fame, instead finding comfort “a working actor who can enjoy my day-to-day life.” In the years Superbad and Juno’s respective releases, his notable credits have included The LEGO Batman Movie, Molly’s Game, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and Life & Beth.
Michael Cera can next be seen playing Allan as a member of Barbie’s stacked cast, with the movies opening in theaters Friday, July 21. If you’re interested in streaming Superbad and/or Juno, Hulu subscribers have access to the former, while the latter can be viewed with a Max subscription.
