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Michael Cera could have very well been a part of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, but his fear of fame held him back. The actor is peeling back the curtain on why he passed up a ticket to the wizarding world. Turns out, it wasn’t about scheduling drama. It was about the enormity of the franchise.
Cera’s always been the guy who thrives in quiet, quirky corners of cinema, not sweeping CGI battles or franchise chaos. So, when Warner Bros. offered him a place, a wand, and magical creatures, the actor declined the offer because he didn't want the fame of it to get to him.
Speaking to Louis Theroux on his podcast, Cera said,
“I don’t even know if I was offered, I think I just declined to engage with it because I think it would be like probably six years commitment or something. But also, I did sort of make a conscientious choice to limit my exposure a little bit, or just try and be a little more in control of it. And I felt like doing, especially little kids’ movies, I had a big fear of doing things that I would get too famous.”
He then talked about how he's more open to participating in big franchises as of now. He added,
“I think I’ve outgrown that particular feeling, but I think that’s what that was at that time. But if a franchise came along now and seemed interesting, I don’t think on the grounds of it being a franchise I would storm out of the office or anything.”
Michael Cera's cinematic journey
Michael Cera isn’t your typical Hollywood star, and thank God for that. Cera first won us over as George‑Michael Bluth on Arrested Development. But what could’ve been a one‑note start turned into a full‑blown indie film takeover.
In 2007, Cera hit us with the back-to-back brilliance of Superbad and Juno, playing soft-spoken boys who somehow made fumbling through adolescence feel deeply poetic. Then came Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in 2010, where he straight-up fought seven evil exes with video game powers and made it feel... normal?
Voice acting? He’s got that too. From a paranoid hot dog questioning the meaning of life in Sausage Party to a wide-eyed, cape-clad Robin in The Lego Batman Movie, Michael Cera’s voice performances are pure chaotic charm wrapped in existential angst. He’s got this uncanny knack for making the ridiculous feel tender and the absurd feel sincere.
But when he’s not voicing animated oddballs, Michael Cera’s off quietly breaking your heart in the indie scene. In Crystal Fairy, Molly’s Game, and The Adults, he slips into roles like a second skin, playing messy, lonely, slightly off-center people who feel so real you want to text them afterward.
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He’s also a theater kid with Broadway credits like Lobby Hero and This Is Our Youth. And let’s not forget he makes music, too. And writes fiction for McSweeney’s. Talk about a Jack of all trades.
Recently, Michael Cera popped up in Barbie as Allan the Weird One and in Life & Beth, all while balancing movies like Dream Scenario and Sacramento. His last appearance was in Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme, where he played Bjorn Lund alongside Benicio del Toro.
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