Michael Cera almost quit acting after Superbad and Juno success

Michael Cera is one of those delightfully odd actors whose fame certainly wasn’t guaranteed, so it may not come as a surprise that he bristled at the success he experienced after 2007 hits Superbad and Juno. In fact, he told The Guardian that he considered quitting acting completely after being thrust into the public eye.

Despite already starring alongside greats like Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Jessica Walter in Arrested Development, Cera became more of a leading man after scoring back-to-back roles in the coming-of-age buddy comedy Superbad and the teenage pregnancy comedy-drama Juno. Discussing the “overwhelming” time, Cera recalled, “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.”

Cera pointed to meeting drunk superfans as an example of those “bad energies.” “You know, if people are drunk, and they recognize 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,” the actor said. At one point, he “really didn’t know if I was going to keep being an actor,” and turned down opportunities like hosting Saturday Night Live to avoid getting even more famous.

Ultimately, it was 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World that kept Cera from quitting acting completely, mostly because he had already committed to the role at the time of his personal crisis. Thankfully, he’s now achieved a more sustainable, low-profile level of success that allows him to keep working — with greats like David Lynch, at that — without becoming the biggest star in the world. And if that means we’ll see Cera as Ken’s friend Allan rather than Ken himself, we’ll take it.

In addition to a supporting role in Barbie, Cera will soon reprise his role as Scott Pilgrim in an anime series based on Edgar Wright’s film. He also stars in Steven Soderbergh’s new sci-fi comedy series Command Z, which is now streaming on the director’s personal website.

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