#INTERVIEW: “HEADS OF STATE” – JOHN CENA, PRIYANK CHOPRA JONAS & ILYA NAISHULLER

Releasing on Prime Video Canada this Canada/July 4th holiday weekend, HEADS OF STATE delivers us us megawatt starpower and hilarity in the comfort of our homes. The Action-Comedy sees a former-Actor-turned-President of the United states (John Cena) and U.K. Prime Minister (Idris Elba) in a very public feud that could destroy their countries’ alliance. Both become the target of a very powerful enemy and will need the help of a top-of-her-game MI6 agent (Priyanka Chopra Jonas).

We are lucky to have joined a global press event with HEADS OF STATE stars John Cena, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Director Ilya Naishuller.

The Trio are asked bout the most challenging part of filming HEADS OF STATE.

Cena: The biggest hill was navigating Air Force One and making that beautiful, practical set look authentic to the action. That’s my little piece.

Chopra Jonas: I wasn’t part of Air Force One, but when I read the Script, I was like, ‘How do they attempt o achieve this?’, and we did. To me, I also loved The Beast. I love a good car chase in a movie. We shot it for a really long time. Tomatina was really fun. I was like, ‘Are we really going to the Tomatina Festival? So many set pieces in the movie. It was so much fun to do.

Naishuller: In terms of the sequence and making the pixel perfect tone, it’s the Gopnik fight in the Belarus village. John has some experience throwing people around. You need both Comedy and Action, and one can’t overshadow other. That took a lot of thinking and testing to get that perfect. But technically, I’d say it’s The Beast chase. The interiors are tough because you have four ppl flighting inside a small space. John is a big guy and then you’ve got Idris in there and there’s no space for the camera and you want the punches to feel good. Sometimes they felt a little too good.

Chopra Jonas: John actually felt it on his face!

Naishuller: John got clipped. And then we’d tease Wade Briggs who played The Chef, ‘Take three! Let’s do that again! And this time don’t punch John Cena in the face. John turned and said, ‘I’ve been hit harder by stronger people, but let’s not do that again.’.

Naishuller talks about assembling the perfect Cast for the Film.

Naishuller: I think we’d been shooting John and Idris for two-to-three weeks and then we do the train scene, which is a reintroduction of all three of them together. We’ve got the cameras and John is sleeping on train couch snoring, and Idris and Priyanka have a romantic, quiet, very reserved moment. We talked quite a bit before shooting, but the day of everyone shows-up in costume looking wonderful, Idris slides open door and Priyanka turns around and the camera starts going, and I thought ‘This is gonna be easy’.

The guys spent so much time in prep, the physical aspect, the character aspect. Again, no movie is easy to do no matter the scale, the budget, but having these three is a Director’s dream. I say that, but I have never been as professionally happy as I’ve been the last three years.

Naishuller comments on getting the tone exactly right here.

Naishuller: I love the ’80s and ’90s Buddy genre. The Movie was pitched to me as an Action-Thriller. I thought, ‘Why are you making this an Action-Thriller? Why are they ex-military?’. Let’s make them not as capable. Let’s make John’s character an ex-movie star-turned-president. So he’s got a great comedic perspective on everything. He thinks he knows what he’s doing, but doesn’t and that’s always fun. Getting tone right was a lot of thinking. I’d lay on the couch listening to a lot of music and play the Movie in my head. I have Synesthesia, seeing everything in colour. I always felt it was an orange movie, hence the title is in orange font. It’s great to have a vision and a great idea. I looked at the Credit list, there’s 2,600 people working on this movie and we were all rolling the boat to the same bountiful shore. It was not easy but not particularly hard.

Cena talks about his choice to accept his role in HEADS OF STATE.

Cena: Initially, the origin story of the Movie is the chemistry that Idris and I showed in Suicide Squad. We took a Script made for two badass guys to kick ass in a world of turmoil. Idiris and I both were honest enough to say, these characters need flaw. You have to be vulnerable enough to be able to laugh at your self. A lot of the Film is Comedy and that is the language of the world. Everyone knows how it feels to get a pie in face. The more you can lean into those moments, the broader the reach, the more the audience is entertained. I think we did a good job making the best movie, rather than ‘I want to be the toughest character’. I’d rather be the joke of the whole Movie and have world laugh, and be able to make another one.

Chopra Jonas is asked about the pressure of portraying a woman who must prove she is capable of being able to protect Heads of State.

Chopra Jonas: The Movie was very enticing from beginning. Parts like they this don’t just become, you need someone to conceptualize. The Producers, Co-Actors, Director are men, but they are Feminist men who recognize the muscle of the Film is woman. I thought it was really funny. Women are capable, but the sheer size of me between the three of us was visually hysterical. I felt really safe, taken care of and protected. They wanted to put me and my character at the front and that was very generous.

HEADS OF STATE arrives July 2, 2025 on Prime Video Canada.