Michael Cera is looking back on the “funnier” revision that was made to the script of 2013’s “This Is The End”.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the actor explains how “no pain, no gain” applied to the scene where he got slapped by Rihanna at James Franco’s house party.
Cera, 35, noted that, after multiple takes, the two — who play exaggerated versions of themselves, along with the rest of the cast — agreed to ditch the fake slaps and actually slap one another, leading to a “slightly revised” script.
READ MORE: Michael Cera Says He Almost ‘Spontaneously’ Married Aubrey Plaza So He Could Call Her His ‘Ex-Wife’
“I don’t think the takes weren’t working,” Cera recounted. “I thought it would look a lot better if she hit me. I don’t think it took much convincing to get her to do it. I just thought it would look a lot better than a fake slap would because you can really feel it. It just looks a lot funnier!”
I deadass didn't know that slap scene was for real.
Rihanna slapped Michael Cera so hard that he took a half hour nap.pic.twitter.com/EBesWz0aAy — Riley Writts (@RileyWritts) April 6, 2022
The take that made the final cut left Cera a little banged up.
Though the Canadian star “was into it” and “definitely did not regret it,” he told RS that Rihanna “really did hit my ear, which was disorienting.
“But I have no regrets,” he reiterated. “I didn’t lose any hearing over it, fortunately!”
Seth Rogen — who made his directorial debut with Evan Goldberg on the film — previously spoke about Cera and Rihanna’s slap scene.
“We did maybe three or four [takes] and [Cera] asked [Rihanna] if he could actually slap her butt, and she said he could if she could actually slap him back in the face, which she did,” he shared upon the film’s 2013 release. “And I think one of the times she got him in the ear and it whacked off his equilibrium and he had to go lie down in his trailer for a little bit.”
READ MORE: Wes Anderson Is Already Working On His Next Film Starring Michael Cera: Report
Flash forward 10 years, Cera endured another onscreen slap by a famous female actress.
In “Black Mirror”‘s recently released sixth season, which Cera makes a brief cameo in, he gets slapped by Salma Hayek — however, it wasn’t the real deal. It was fake.
